I John 1:7 states, \u201cBut if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John wrote the text with the purpose \u201cthat our joy may be full\u201d (I John 1:4). Many miss this joy by seeking fulfillment in other places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I came upon a man one day who was drunk, crying in a phone booth, trying to call home. After a few minutes of talking with him, he asked if I would walk him to his house. We left from the bar where he had been, walked to the end of the block, turned right, walked to the next corner, turned right, then the next corner, right again. The last right turn brought us back to the bar. He went in and I with him. The bartender took the last of his money and gave him a small drink. There was no way he could stop drinking until the money was gone. I worked with him for a few months, trying to bring him to Jesus. He made a lot of progress, but finally got off the wagon. What a sad way to look for joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our text speaks of a walk in the light, not staggering around the block. Some miss the walk because they want just a little darkness. A little sip with the right crowd seems to be okay, even pleasant.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John states in verse 5 (of the same chapter), \u201c\u2026that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.\u201d If we walk with Him we must give up all darkness. We can profess that we are Christian and have fellowship with the church, and miss the joy of walking in the light by allowing a few shady thoughts and deeds to remain in us. We may tell ourselves all is well, while missing the full joy of a total commitment . In verse 6 John says we are living a lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The text also says that while walking in the light of sweet fellowship with Him, there is a continual cleansing, \u201c\u2026the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.\u201d This is a present ongoing tense, not past or future. In Revelation 5:6 we have a picture of a Lamb “as it had been slain.” The cleansing doesn\u2019t stop. The walk with Him is a cleansing walk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John 6:66-67 says, \u201cFrom that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then Jesus said to the twelve, will ye also go away?\u201d Will you and I keep walking with Him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The chorus to the hymn, \u201cI\u2019ve Discovered the Way of Gladness,\u201d by Floyd W. Hawkins, goes like this: \u201cI\u2019ve discovered the way of gladness. I\u2019ve discovered the way of joy. I\u2019ve discovered relief from sadness, \u2019Tis a happiness without alloy. I\u2019ve discovered the fount of blessing, I\u2019ve discovered the Living Word. \u2019Twas the greatest of all discoveries, when I found Jesus my Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe you want that joy but think that it can\u2019t work for you. After King David committed sin with Bathsheba, he called out to God, \u201cRestore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit\u201d (Psalm 51:12). God did. We can stay in fellowship IF WE WALK!\u00a0
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I John 1:7 states, \u201cBut if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.\u201d John wrote the text with the purpose \u201cthat our joy may be full\u201d (I John 1:4). Many miss this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/coalmanpublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/florian-d-bazac-EPLiMKC6Qck-unsplash-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coalmanpublishing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coalmanpublishing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coalmanpublishing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coalmanpublishing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coalmanpublishing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1906"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/coalmanpublishing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1909,"href":"https:\/\/coalmanpublishing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906\/revisions\/1909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coalmanpublishing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coalmanpublishing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coalmanpublishing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coalmanpublishing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}