I think that as believers in Jesus Christ, you and I face the same dilemma every day: I want to live as a child of the light, but I keep going back to the darkness of sin. I read God’s Word, I come to worship, I confess my sins. And I mean it, I really do mean to make my life better. But things get out of control—I lose control. And I sin.

And when we read our Bibles, or hear Jesus say things like, “For judgment I have come into the world,” we know how serious God is about living a Christian life.

Of course, this is nothing new for believers. Abraham dealt with this, Jacob and his family did, King David did. Peter and the Apostle Paul did, too. And throughout the ages, Christians like you and me have been coming before the altar of God beating their chests and saying, “Have mercy on me Lord, a sinner.”

And that’s the key to unlocking this mystery, of solving this dilemma in your life: is there still a struggle going on in your heart? Is that new person within you struggling and waging war against the impulses of sin in your life? Do you cry out to God, “I want to live as a child of the light”? 

So God teaches us to pray, “Lord, help me remember who I am and help me avoid and expose sin.” Walking as a child of the light recognizes that we are new people in Christ, and as those new people we live differently. We live in the light.