This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
1 John 1:5, ESV
We can never truly know the reality of having no darkness within us as we walk in this life. It is only through Christ that we can even catch a glimpse of real light. What we perceive is only a shadow, but the purity and brightness of Christ is such a great light that the love of God is not easy for us to fully understand or perceive. If we were to fully comprehend the darkness in us, we could not bear the depth of how great the darkness is within us. Thankfully, Christ’s light overcomes our darkness. If we do not acknowledge the darkness in us, we cannot fully know the light. As John states shortly after this verse, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” We must first understand our own lack of light in the depths of who we are in order to receive Christ’s full light. Sadly, there are those who do not wish to acknowledge this reality and would rather blame God for the flawed state in which we find ourselves or deny the darkness altogether. Thankfully, all it takes is for our surrender to our Lord and the full reception of His light and we can know the forgiveness that is promised to us all through Christ and Christ alone.
Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.