Washington Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

By Doug Bing, Washington Conference president

Recently I came across a website about walking. It was not the website that I was looking for, but I certainly found it rather appropriate for the Christian life.

The website described how to walk in the dark (interesting the simple and wholesome things you find on the web).

Here are some of the pointers that were highlighted on the website:

• Carry a light
• Be aware of your surroundings
• Do be distracted while you are walking
• Choose your route well
• Walk with someone
• Beware of tripping hazards
• Don’t be blinded by oncoming lights

Don’t all of those seem rather obvious? They certainly did for me and for a moment I wondered why in the world someone would take the time to build a website about walking in the dark when all of the suggestions were basic and things that people should know intuitively.

Then I thought how appropriate to us as we walk into the unknowns of 2021.

We are certainly living in a world that is dark and seems to be getting darker at times. And every single one of those points listed above is really about how we should live our Christian life.

We should carry the light of God’s word with us continually.

We need to be totally aware of what is happening around us and not be asleep. We also need not be distracted by the things of this world as we are walking with Jesus towards heaven. We need to choose the route that God wants us on. We need someone to walk with us in this darkness that will point us to Jesus. Jesus can also keep us from tripping and being blinded by false lights that are pointed in our eyes.

Psalms 119:105 says it well:

As you go walking into the new year, please walk with Jesus and His word and you will make it safely home with Jesus.