How do you walk as a child of the light?
When we were adopted into the family of God, we moved from the sphere of death and darkness into the sphere of life and light.
Even though we still sin in this life, God has declared us to be saints through the righteousness of Christ. This means that we are being sanctified by the power of the Holy Spirit, and we are no longer defined by our sin.
Once we recognize this, we ought to strive to be more like Christ. He, after all, has given us a new dignity and a new derivation. We must allow the Word to define us instead of the world. If we do so, we will seek to avoid all types of sin—immorality, impurity, greed, filthiness, silly talk, or coarse jesting (Ephesians 5:3–4).
These things are no longer fitting for us as saints, though they will try to creep back into our lives if we are not on guard.
Now, note that the “course jesting” Paul mentions here is different than humor. God loves a right humor; He created it. But we need to be careful not to fall into crude joking, laughing at that which is not pleasing to God. Because we are heirs of the kingdom, we need to watch our words.
As we read through the way we are called to live, we need to recognize that there are many who profess the faith, but not all who profess it possess it. There is a difference between professing to know God and actually manifesting the new life that the Spirit gives us. As James teaches us, a true faith will result in works: “show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18).
This is not saying that our works can save us. Salvation is through grace and faith alone. However, if we truly are saved, then we cannot help but manifest this transformation. We are a new creation, having moved from death to life, from darkness to light. The light will illuminate the sin within us as God conforms us to His image.
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