1 John 1:5-7 — This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto 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 the truth: But 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.

We have a nice new wooden nativity in our yard. It’s lit by a solar-powered lamp. Each night it comes on and then, as the battery runs down, it goes out.
I’ve often thought about what this passage in 1 John is saying to me. This image of the light running down, because it’s not being replenished by the greater light, has given me some insight I think.
The first thing is what the passage says about God. He is not a light, or even the light. He is light. His glory is like a fire. He is clothed in light. He created light: “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” (Genesis 1:3). God is surrounded by light and most marvelously, Christians walk in that light: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:” (1 Peter 2:9)
The English theologian Henry Alford said of light, “It unites in itself purity, and clearness, and beauty, and glory, as no other material object does; it is the condition of all material life and growth and joy.”. He said of God, “He is Light, and the fountain of light material and ethical. In the one world, darkness is the absence of light; in the other, darkness, untruthfulness, deceit, falsehood, is the absence of God. They who are in communion with God, and walk with God, are the light, and walk in the light.”
I’m like the solar-powered lamp in the yard. I need to be constantly reenergized by God’s light or I will slip into spiritual darkness. That’s not where I want to be. “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.” (Proverbs 4:18-19). I need my quiet time, devotions, and Bible reading. I need worship, preaching and teaching. I need to be constantly seeking the power of the light!