Inspired by... the walk

Inspired by... the walk

 

 

"I (Paul) therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner

worthy of the calling to which you have been called."

 

She isn't, by the way. The turtle. She isn't walking. She's just layin' there, soaking up the tropical Hawaiian rays. Some Christians are like that: sit and soak. I'll admit, I feel like doing that myself lots of times! I'm so thankful for the blessed Holy Spirit within me that convicts me and urges me (as Paul is doing in the above scripture) to WALK!

As Christians we are to walk in a manner worthy of our calling. What is our calling? We are called to be holy as God is holy.

 

"He who called you is holy; like Him, be holy in all your conduct." 1 Peter 1:16

 

"Um, God? I can't be holy like You."

Right.

We can't do anything good, righteous or holy apart from the Holy Spirit.

 

"Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God,

that we might understand the things freely given us by God." 1 Cor 2:12

 

Not only understand the things of God, but do the things He calls us to do! So what is this walk suppose to look like? Paul tells us:

 

"Be humble always and gentle, and patient too, putting up with one another's failings in the spirit of love.

Spare no effort to make fast with bonds of peace the unity which the Spirit gives." Ephesians 4:2-3 (highlight mine)

 

(Am I the only one being convicted here?) Need more help? 2 Peter 1:5-7 gives us, what my friend D.C. calls, the mathematical equation for the Christian Walk.

 

"...make every effort to add virtue to your faith, knowledge to virtue, self-control to knowledge, fortitude to self-control,

piety to fortitude, brotherly affection to piety, and love to brotherly affection."

 

Peter spells it out pretty clearly for us in the next verse, "If you possess and develop these gifts, you will grow actively and effectively in knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

It all starts with faith. We must have faith in Jesus Christ in order to have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, who is the One who enables us to "possess and develop these gifts." To faith we add virtue, then we add knowledge (this refers to learning through experience), then self-control, then fortitude (strength of mind), then piety (a reverence for God), brotherly love and finally, love. Agape love. Unconditional, sacrificial love. The kind of love God has for us. The kind of love only God is capable of and only we can give when God is working through us.

See the progression of steps? Ah-ha! Progression of steps = walking!

Now I'm going to paraphrase one of Dora's lines from Finding Nemo. I haven't been able to get it out of my head since I watched the movie four weeks ago...

"Keep on walking... keep on walking... keep on walking..."

 

Blessings,

 

 

Sharing inspiration here: