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 yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.”

I try to eat healthy. And I take a few vitamins and supplements. My bottle of fish oil tablets has a little heart symbol on it with the words, “Promotes a healthy heart.” But there is an asterisk after the word heart. It leads you to a little box on the back of the label that reads, “This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.”

Disclaimers are everywhere. Practically every invitation to invest your money comes with the reminder, “Past performance is no guarantee of future results.” The gas mileage ratings of your car are “based on EPA estimates. Actual mileage will vary.” An online sweepstakes: “Many will enter, few will win.” A call in radio show hosted by a lawyer: “Contents for entertainment purposes only. Does not constitute legal advice.”

Spiritually, people are tempted to claim more about their faith and morals than reality warrants. This is often due to the sinful assumption we must justify ourselves. If we are going to be accepted by God and others, then we will have to make a case for our own goodness and worth. We fudge our spiritual resumés as we try to promote our case. This is walking in darkness. This is living a lie.

God, we learn, is light. Light makes it possible to see. It makes reality clear. It reveals the truth and exposes what is false. Darkness hides and covers. It deceives the eye. It makes things look different than they really are, if you can see them at all. Look at the way people advertise used cars. Sometimes a seller takes the pictures at night. Even under lights, pictures taken at night tend to make the car look better than it really is. Bad paint and body damage are hard to see between the glare and the shadows. Daylight gives you a much better picture of what is going on.

God doesn’t just live in the light, John says. He IS light. With him nothing is hidden. Nothing can look different than it actually is. He reveals only fact and truth. No field of science can make such a claim. Over time one theory gives way to another. No man-made religion provides such clarity. People tend to refashion God the way they want him to be, not as he actually is, and they do the same things with right and wrong. No political or social movement provides such a beacon of truth. Dark human selfishness infects them all.

This light of God isn’t limited to what he lights up and exposes outside of us. He is more than the spiritual equivalent of headlights on your car making it possible to see the road ahead. When he leads us to know and believe in Jesus as our Savior, his light shines inside of us. This is part of what it means to have fellowship with God. We share this light. It shows our hearts what God is really like, convincing them of both his severe justice and his unconditional, undeserved love. The light may not reach every nook and cranny of our souls at once, but it is constantly driving back the darkness of sin, chasing out the shadows of doubt and skepticism, shining through the shade of biblical and spiritual ignorance.

No spiritual disclaimers are necessary when the light of God’s truth is shining on us, and in us. Our life and words will begin to match up with the light of Jesus’ life and words. John’s words urge us to come out of the darkness and walk in the light of God’s truth.