A Message from Dalmond Bodden, Associate Pastor of Worship and Media
This week I’ve asked Dalmond Bodden, our Associate Pastor in worship and media to encourage us from the Words ministry. Dalmond is a gifted, bright and godly leader and we are thankful to have him as a part of the team at CIBC.
A Word from Dalmond:
1 John 1:6
“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.”
First of all, I think it a privilege to have this opportunity to write this and to be a part of any moment of your thinking, to serve you in knowing Christ more intimately and following him more closely.
I believe that most of us need some source of light whenever we enter a place that is dark.
If we went in and never threw that switch, especially in a place that we have never been before, it wouldn’t be too long before we started bumping into things and then possibly hurt ourselves, perhaps even very severely. And very rarely, or never, would the seeing man go about his life with his eyes closed, thinking that he would get by just fine.
That’s what I love about the truth offered here in 1 John 1. It is simple and it’s plain. We are either in darkness or in light and we know it.
If we are in the light, we have fellowship with one another.
Being in the light fosters forgiveness, unity, friendship, fellowship, forbearance, self-control.
Being in the light exposes our true character and if we are of the light then we look like children of the light.
Being in the light is being of the light or of Christ.
This means we have come out of the darkness which we once obliviously and delusively lived, and into the marvelous light of Jesus Christ whose blood purifies us from all our sin.
We are children of the light and we live as children of the light, loving Christ and his people and hating the things that God hates. We hold to God’s standard, in love, concerning everything, and we seek to please our Father in all that we do. Or, we are just simply not of the light and are walking in darkness staring down the road to our inevitable end. If God is at all true, then apart from being in the light there is nothing else available to save us from what is to come.
Dead – nothing that is life can come from that which is dead.
Darkness – there is no light in darkness, for where there is light there is no darkness at all.
Oh, how beautiful it is when the dead are miraculously made living
and they, once engulfed in utter darkness, receives untainted light.
If you are reading this and you have not turned your life over to Christ as Lord and King, I want you to know that my prayer for you is just that. Would you consider that the Creator and King of the universe sees you and knows you: where you’ve been and what you’ve done, and still considers you someone that He so loved and has given His only Son for.
We sinned against the holy and righteous God. We fell convicted and imprisoned by our sin. We have found ourselves eternally separated from God, now heading to a place designed for his enemies, a place where we would remain separated and unsatiated forever. Had we the right currency to pay, maybe we could set ourselves free. Unfortunately, no gold or silver, no sacrificing of bulls and goats, no... nothing could pay the penalty.
Nothing could pay the price and free us from the slave master, sin, who will reward us only in death. But God, in grace, mercy and love, sent His Son Jesus Christ… The only one who could pay this price; he was the currency needed to pay for the sin of the world.
He was man, and so he was acquainted with our humanity, but he is God and so was able to accomplish what no man could. Jesus, both God and man, was tempted just as we were but never sinned, was betrayed, beaten, mocked and crucified by the very people God so loved and had given him for.
The price for sin is death, your death and mine. But mercy said no, and love has afforded us life at the cost of the blood of the Lamb. We are sinners, He is not, we were convicted, he wasn’t; yet, for the pardoning of the wicked the Innocent had to die. So, he did.
No matter our precision in the recitation of the Gospel, unless regeneration is caused by its revelation, we might just conclude that we are merely articulate.
If you have not turned over your kingdom to the true King, run now to Jesus and trust him for peace through repentance. Trust in the Prince of Peace. Turn from yourself, your sinfulness and pride, rush into the arms of a loving King who gave himself up for you when you weren’t considering him. The one who knew you and how you needed him before you drew your first breath.
Repent and escape what you truly deserve and take rest in the lap of restoration and reconciliation. Turn to Jesus who is the only one that has afforded you peace…. Because He has.
God so loved the world that He sent His Son……. But my friend…. We must accept and believe on this… And if it’s true, then it should move us to turning and trusting in Jesus Christ for what He has done for us.
If you have been moved to repentance, even now, contact us at Cayman Islands Baptist Church or talk with the pastor at your local church or a Christian friend.
Just another beggar pointing you to where the Bread of Life is.
Have a blessed rest of your week.
Dalmond