What does the Christian life look like? What in your life would you point to in order to show that you are a Christian? There are many things that Christians do—attending church and studies, serving in ministries, reading the Bible and praying, giving money—the list seems to go on and on. They are important, but it is possible to focus on these activities and stray from the essential part of the Christian life.

God is light; in him there is no darkness at all (v 5). Meditate on that statement. He is good; there is no evil in him. He is true; there is no falseness in him. God is light. He gives us what we need to see ourselves and the world. The Psalmist says, for in you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light (36:9).

The Apostle tells us that we are to walk in the light if we would have fellowship with God. If we claim to have fellowship with God but walk in darkness, we are lying; we are kidding ourselves. If we walk in darkness, we are not with God. That is simple and profound.

What does it mean to walk in darkness? First, it means to live in sin. You are living in sin if you are cherishing, hiding and feeding sin. I could name sins (sexual sins, carrying a grudge, addiction to people’s approval), but none of them may be one you are tempted to live in right now. When I say living in sin, what sin comes to your mind? That is probably the one that you wrestle with. That is the one that needs to be confessed and tagged for removal.

Please note, when you become aware of sin in your life, the first temptation (and it is a temptation) is to try harder to get rid of it, to promise God that you will never engage in that sin again. You want to take care of it before anyone else knows. You don’t even want God to know. Is this what it means to walk in the light? No, it is walking in the darkness to try to change you all by yourself because it fails to understand how pernicious sin really is.

What does the Bible tell us we should do when we discover sin in our hearts? If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sin and purify us from all unrighteousness (v 9). God does not tell us to take care of our sins by ourselves. He does not tell us to atone for our sins by ourselves. Even when we do things to make amends for our sin it is not in order to "pay for them." Should we do things that would lessen the wrongs and hurts our sin has caused? Of course. This is not in order to atone for our sins, but to be used by God in his work of reconciliation.

Sometimes we act as though Jesus’ death atones for all the sins we commit before we become Christians, but we have to fix all the sins after our conversion. That is walking in darkness! Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for all of our sins. We need his saving power as much today as we did last week or 50 years ago. We walk in the light by confessing our sins so he can forgive us our sins.

The saving power of Christ does not end just by turning away the wrath of God. He also purifies us from all unrighteousness. This means that the Holy Spirit of God works in our hearts to make us more like Jesus. We walk in the light because the Spirit of God works and lives in us. We have real fellowship with God who is light.

When you confess your sins to God, don’t do it in a general way. Don’t just say, "Hey I sin like everyone else. No one is perfect." That is true enough, but it is not confessing your sin. Specifically naming your sins makes you recognize them for what they are. It is like tagging junk bins for removal. Removal is just what God does with your sins.

If you don’t name your sins, it is easy to fool yourself into thinking that you don’t have any. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us (v 8). Keeping your sins (rather than confess them for God’s removal) and claiming that you don’t need forgiveness are both ways we walk in the darkness. It is easy to fall into both traps and stray from the simplicity of the gospel. It is easy to trust in your respectability and reputation as a Christian rather than trust completely in Christ. In fact, your concern over your reputation will keep you from recognizing and confessing your sins in order to be forgiven and healed.