For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth). 

Ephesians 5:8-9 

What is the fruit the Holy Spirit grows in the children of light? It is goodness, righteousness and truth. This is a short list of the fruit of the Spirit. Paul gives us a longer list in Galatians 5, where he writes, ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.’ Our text summarizes this list as, ‘goodness, righteousness, and truth.’ What we can draw from the Galatians and Ephesians passages is that the work of the Holy Spirit has an overwhelmingly salutary effect on the whole person. The Galatians list is full of virtues which savor of Christ. He has the Spirit without measure, and therefore exhibits these qualities to their superlative degree. As we follow Him, walking in the light as He is in the light, the Holy Spirit grows this fruit in us. As He does we grow in grace and in the knowledge of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The fruit of the Spirit shows in goodness, righteousness and truth. What is encouraging to us is that whereas we are utterly incapable of transforming ourselves, the Holy Spirit ‘renews us in the whole person after the image of God and enables us to die more and more unto sin and to live unto righteousness.’ What we cannot do ourselves, He can and does do, to conform us to genuine Christlikeness.  

Our Kind and Gracious God, 
we rejoice in the work of Your Holy Spirit. 
We praise You that He forms us to the Image of Christ. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.  

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth). 

Ephesians 5:1-2, 8-9

How shall we know what is acceptable to the Lord? Paul has been speaking of imitating God, of imitating Christ, and of walking as children of light. In the verses between the first and second portions of our text, he has listed various behaviors which are antithetical to the imitation of Christ. As we transition in our spiritual walk from the darkness in which we used to walk to the light in which we now walk, we will at times struggle with conquering these behaviors which characterize the old life. Having listed these sins, Paul points to the new way of life by saying, ‘walk as children of light.’ He goes on to iterate that ‘the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.’ As the Spirit of Christ works in us what is good, righteous, and truthful we come to an understanding of what is acceptable to the Lord. No growth in grace occurs without the direct tutoring of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit Who takes the things of Christ and shows them unto us. The Holy Spirit, as He indwells us, grows His fruit within us, and conforms us to the image of Christ. As He teaches us to walk as children of light, He brings us to have less and less affinity for anything that savors of the old dark things that are not like Christ, or acceptable to God.  

Our Good and Wise God, 
we rejoice that You bring us from darkness to light. 
We praise You that You continue to work in us 
to conform us to the image of Your Son.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.  

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. 

Ephesians 5:1-2, 8 

What does it mean to ‘walk as children of light?’ ‘God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.’ If we are ‘imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ has loved us and given Himself for us,’ then we begin to understand what walking as children of light is. Between the two portions of our text, Paul refers to some heinous behaviors. He refers to a number of activities in which none of us should participate. His overarching point is that these behaviors are not consistent with imitating Christ. All of them evidence the selfishness which is inextricably part of what we call sin. By contrast Christ, ‘the Light of the world,’ exhibits none of these behaviors. Therefore to imitate Him, to ‘walk as children of light,’ is to step away from these behaviors to ‘walk as He walked.’ This cannot be simply a matter of our own ability and self-discipline. Nor can it be simply a matter of making our life appear we have arrived at such a spiritual state that these things are never a problem for us. If we are to truly ‘walk as children of light,’ it will be a matter of looking to Christ, because, ‘without Me, you can do nothing.’ As Christ is the answer for our salvation, so Christ is the answer for our walk of life. It begins and ends with Him. 

Our Glorious, Living Christ, 
we rejoice that You are the Great Example we follow. 
We praise You that daily, You lead us by Your Spirit, 
to learn to imitate You more fully. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush in Burning