For all the saints

Saints are people who follow Jesus

A father and son arrived in a small western town looking for an uncle whom they had never seen. Suddenly, the father, pointing across the square to a man who was walking away from them, exclaimed, “There goes my uncle!”

His son asked, “How do you know when you have not seen him before?”

“Son, I know him because he walks exactly like my father.”

In 1 John 1:5-7 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out 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, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Light is something that can have a dramatic effect on everything it touches. Light makes it possible to see. A lighthouse warns ships of the coastline; emergency lights warn drivers of a high-speed vehicle. Light speaks of security and reassurance. When we are in a dark house and hear an unfamiliar noise, we instinctively turn on a light because we want to be able to see and be seen. Jesus says we are to be like that to a neighbourhood that dwells in darkness. 

Ann Ortlund suggests that ‘day by day, morning by morning, begin your walk with Him in the calm trust that God is at work in everything....It is your personal business, as a discipline of your heart, to learn to be peaceful and safe in God in every situation. Remember, where your real living is going on. In your thinking, in your reacting, in your heart of hearts - here is where your walk with God begins and continues. So when you start to move into trusting Him, stay there. Don't wander out again into worry and doubt!’

We give thanks to you, Lord,

for you have done marvellous things!

When we were walking in darkness

you were there, you were there,

when we were kneeling in weakness

you were there, you were there,

when we drew near feeling worthless

you were there, you were there,

when we were needing forgiveness

you were there, you were there,

when we were searching for your grace

you were there, you were there.

We give thanks to you, Lord,

for you have done marvellous things!

Amen