spiritualsnippets.com

1 John 1: 5, 6- “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.” 

Charlie slipped from the warmth of his bed and made his way down the hallway to the family room. He closed the door, keeping the volume on the television low as he watched a late night program that was vulgar and distasteful.

The next day, he talked with friends after the church service, as if he had done nothing wrong. He had a secret life—a dark life—of which no one was aware.

Lately, Charlie had been looking at pornography, listening to dirty jokes around the water cooler at work, and had begun an inappropriate relationship with a co-worker.

The fellowship he had once had with the Lord had been completely eroded as Charlie made one decision after another to walk in darkness.

When sinful thoughts take root, sinful behavior is what grows—it is the fruit of the flesh—whereas the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 

Charlie ended up losing his wife, family, friends, and job before he finally repented and was restored into a right relationship with the Lord—a fellowship of goodness, hope, and LIGHT in which he is now living out the truth of God’s Word.