“See then that ye walk circumspectly.” Eph. 5:15.
What is walking circumspectly? It means that we are on a journey through the world, in which we must go step by step, each action being a step. We are to “walk as children of light—proving what is acceptable to the Lord.”
Light always goes in a straight line. I once stood upon some very high cliffs at the seaside and looked out upon the water. It was night; darkness lay around me. but the moon was riding high in the heavens, shining in the glory of the absent sun. As I gazed over the sea, I saw a path of light stretching in a straight line from me towards the shining moon. Around that path the waters were dark with the shadow of night, but in it they danced and flashed and rippled in silvery beauty.
How like the path of light that the Christian has to tread through the darkness of the world.
There may be a hundred persons looking at that moon from different spots upon these cliffs, and yet each one for himself will see a path of light shining in a straight line across the troubled waters.
So it is, dear ones, in our journey through the night. Christ in the heavens is “the light above the brightness of the sun,” and each one of us, as we gaze on Him, will see a path of light marked out for us through the gloom. It is “to walk even as He walked,” for we are “the children of light,”—each one who has taken Christ as his Savior. Each one has a separate, yet a shining, path. The Word of God marks it with unfailing and unerring brightness. Whatever our station in life, there is the path, and it is always light. In that light we can prove, whatever our difficulties, what is “acceptable to the Lord.”
If we are walking according to the light, the Word will be our guide in everything. It reproves all in us, about us, or in our ways that is not acceptable to Christ. We must be careful how we go, or we may get into temptations. Alas! we little know how much misery and what eternal loss may spring from one step taken according to the darkness.
Look at the stars in the sky: each one of those beautiful twinkling lights is threading its way through space. Some are rushing along at a greater speed than others; some are coming towards us; some are speeding from us; but there is no clashing, there is no confusion; star does not run into star; star does not compete with star, and star does not follow star. Each one has its allotted pathway through the night, and holds on its way with unswerving steadfastness, upheld “by the word of His power.”
In this spiritual night through which we as “the children of light” must pass, the only secret of a perfect shining walk is this, “upheld by the word of His power.” O, comfort your heart; fear not.
“He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names.” Psa. 147:4.
Precious to His heart is each “child of light.” Not one is overlooked; not one is forgotten; He has each beloved name written down in His own “Book of Life.” He will uphold; “He will keep the feet of His saints.”
Dependence, is all He asks from us. It is of no use saying we have fellowship with God, who is “light,” if the love of God is not dwelling within, and if the acts of our bodies are suitable to the darkness of the world. If we are walking “in the light, as He is in the light,” the Word is guiding our steps in everything, communion with God is unbroken, and “His love is shed abroad in our hearts.”
God calls the light “a treasure.” It is in us a heavenly treasure in earthen vessels. Do you remember how Gideon went to battle with the lamps hidden in the pitchers? And when the earthen pitchers were broken the light shone out, and the enemies of the Lord fled.
We are going through the enemy’s land with our precious treasure in these houses of clay of ours. It is our defense and it is our weapon; We are to be “holding forth the Word of life.” Phil. 2:16.