Walking in the light – what does it mean? Answers to this question range from doing what is right at any time (especially when no one is looking) to following the example of Christ. Does this mean we are supposed to be nice? Is God nice? And what about God’s Son – Was Jesus a nice guy when He cleared the Jerusalem temple and kicked the money changers out? The Bible doesn’t state that God is nice, but instead says that God is love.

Looking at the originator of love, God Himself, we can appreciate that His love comes in different shades. How about the shade of green for jealous love? In the book of Exodus we read about a jealous God (Exodus 34:14):

“Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”

Jealousy is a hot burning flame that can undermine and destroy relationships, but it is also a derivative of love. God is jealous of His children when they ignore Him and give their full attention to something or someone else. If they didn’t matter to Him He wouldn’t be jealous. His jealousy is a declaration of love.

Another shade of love is red – red as in seeing red: angry love. God spoke through Prophet Isaiah in an incident where He was incensed about His greedy children and said: (Isaiah 57:17):

“I was enraged by their sinful greed; I punished them, and hid my face in anger, yet they kept on in their willful ways.”

Greed walks all over people to get what it wants. God hates it when we abuse the helpless. He cares – that is why He gets angry and so should we if we witness abuse in front of our doorsteps. There is a fine line between temper and anger. God’s anger ushers in change as opposed to violent temper which only leaves destruction in its wake.

While God’s anger promotes change His mercies bring about new beginnings (Lamentations 3:22-23):

“It is through the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.” *King James Version

It is one of the Lord’s finest features that He sees hope when all hope is gone. He believes in us when others won’t. During His ministry on earth Jesus was challenged many times to condemn people caught in the act, but He didn’t. He said that His mission is not to condemn people but to restore them to His Father. His mercies are new every morning, which is why I imagine the shades of God’s mercies to be the colors of dawn.

God loves with passion and so do His children. Walking in His love they walk in the light of the Lord.