What It Means to Walk in the Light

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Psalm 119:105

What does it mean to walk in the light? It means:

1. Submitting yourself to the light of God’s Word
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (119:105). If you want to know what pleases or offends God, you have to let Him tell you. The way He does that is through the Bible.

2. Confessing your sin in the light of God’s Word
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1 Jn. 1:9). When you submit to the light of God’s Word, you see that you are a sinner. The surest evidence of walking in the light is that you will feel your need of cleansing.

3. Ordering your life in the light of God’s Word
“By this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments” (2:3). The hymn “Trust and Obey” begins, “When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word, what a glory He sheds on our way.” This is the joy of a person who walks in the light.

Then John tells us what walking in the light brings. First, it brings fellowship. “If we walk in the light… we have fellowship with one another” (1:7). Walking in darkness means that you are not being honest with yourself. This cuts you off from God and others. If you walk in the light, you will never walk alone.

It also brings cleansing. “If we walk in the light… the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1:7). John exposes the lie that the blood of Jesus cleanses from sin even if a person continues to walk in darkness. Sin twists the mind, distorts the heart, and dulls the conscience. So we need more than forgiveness. We need cleansing.

According to the Bible, are you walking in the light?