You Cannot Live A Lie 'In The Name Of God' And Call It 'Light'.

The darkness that first needs to die is that within ourselves which fights constantly against the 'new man' every single day after we repent and believe in what Jesus has finished on the cross (John 3:16/21).

1st John 1:5/7

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

• If one practices sin without repentance, or has become so numbed to it, while professing to follow Jesus, this ultimately brings many things into question. One can profess to be a follower of Jesus for 10 or so years, have absolutely no change in their character and be no different than before they said a prayer in a church one Sunday. This is a very real and unfortunate reality, especially in Western Christianity. People get emotional in a 'moment', go along with the repeated prayer and profess to love and follow Jesus, but have no growth, no accountability and no repentance. This is literally living a lie 'in the name of God'.

• To truly follow the Lord Jesus is in taking Him seriously at His Word and commands (Matthew 22:36/40, Matthew 28:18/20) and trusting the Holy Spirit when He teaches, convicts and leads us into repentance (John 14:26, John 16:13). We walk in the 'Light' (truth) when we are surrendered to His Will (John 14:6), and stop trying to find some other 'way' that 'fits our needs' (2nd Corinthians 11:3/4). If we truly walk in the Light, it will be quite obvious to those around us. But if we walk in darkness (lies, hypocrisy, sin, delusion, love of the world), while proclaiming to walk in the Light, we call God a liar, and the truth is not in us (1st John 1:10).

• Jesus did not call us to follow Him 'sort of', but to truly follow Him with our entire being (Matthew 16:24/27). If we refuse to do so, then we will hear: "I never knew you..." (Matthew 7:21/23).