We try to go for a walk each day. Not only does it provide good aerobic exercise (we walk at a good pace!) but also a time to talk without distractions.  We occasionally also invite others to join us, especially if they are new to the community and/or the church we attend. It gives us a chance to get to know the area as well as to get to know them. If you are going to “walk with someone,” you have to first of all agree to do so (Amos 3:3 KJV), then you must be headed in the same direction and at the same pace.  

     From Gen. 3:8, we can surmise that prior to Adam and Eve’s disobedience and their attempt to run and hide from God, that they used to “walk with God in the Garden.” Sin obviously disrupted that intimate time of fellowship until God provided a means of atonement (Gen. 3:21). 

     When we speak of “our walk” as a Christian, we are referring to how we live. Are we headed in the same direction as God, as revealed in His Word. Do we have the same goals? Do we desire to do His will, no matter what the cost? Jesus, in His allegory of the vine and branches, says, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me…for apart from Me you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:4,5).  Then the Apostle John writes: “The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked” (I Jn. 2:6).  Wow, so how do we walk as Christ walked? After all, He is the sinless Son of God, fully God, yet who gave up everything to become a man to give His life for us, making salvation available to all (Tit. 2:11-12).  I’d say He set the bar pretty high!  Nothing short of perfection and total sacrifice will do.  Peter writes: “But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY…For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH  (I Pet. 1:15,16; 2:21,22). Needless to say, none of us can achieve that exceedingly high standard of Christlikeness on this side of glory; nevertheless, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” (Col. 2:6).  The key phrase in that verse is “in Him,”  for as Paul also wrote: “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God” (II Cor. 3:5). And that “adequacy” is Christ who lives in us through the Holy Spirit from the moment of salvation.  As we allow the Holy Spirit to control us (fill us… Eph. 5:18), and “walk by the Spirit,” Christ will live His life through us (Phil. 1:21; Gal. 2:20) and we “will not carry out the desire of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16).  Christ in us and the empowering of the Holy Spirit make it possible for us to “walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you…” (I Thes. 2:12 cf Eph. 4:1). 

     Our walk is a walk of faith, “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (II Cor. 5:7).  We must also “walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us” (Eph. 5:2). And, since we are now “light in the Lord; walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8 cf I Jn. 1:7). We do that as we “walk in the truth” (III Jn. 1:7).

      Even though we are saved by grace through faith, not as a result of works (Eph. 2:8,9), “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (v. 10). Our “good works” (i.e., our “fruit”) will demonstrate that we have been saved by grace through faith (Mt. 7:20).  As the song goes, “Our walk talks louder than our talk talks,” “Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:15,16).  

Forever His,

Pastor Dave