A Worthy Walk

“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, accepting one another in love, diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with the peace that binds us.” (Ephesians 4:1-3 CSB)

Lifestyle is often described in the Bible as our “walk.” The way we walk is the way we live, so Paul is instructing us to live a life that is worthy of our calling, which is simply our call to faith, to a life of walking with God. He further described what it means to walk worthy of our calling.

One characteristic of a worthy walk is humility. We humble ourselves before God and recognize that we are completely dependent on Him for all of life. Everything we have, including the next breath we take, comes from Him. Our abilities, our intelligence, our imaginations, and our creativity are all gifts from Him, and using them fully for His glory means that we must depend on Him to energize them.

Another characteristic of a worthy walk is gentleness. Basically, this means that we are “tame,” and, therefore, usable. It has nothing to do with strength in the physical sense but everything to do with strength in the spiritual sense. Someone who is spiritually gentle has an iron will with regard to a determination to walk with God.

Patience is a characteristic of a worthy walk. Patience simply means to “continue under the load.” This word was used of animals carrying a heavy burden who continue to struggle forward under their load until the destination is reached. Patient people do not give up but continue forward under their load.

Accepting one another in love is a great characteristic of a worthy walk. Rather than set ourselves up as judge over others, we recognize first the “plank” in our own eye, so we can see the speck in someone else’s eye. In other words, we accept people because God loves us and them.

A worthy walk is characterized by diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with the peace that binds us. The Holy Spirit unifies us. He does not make us “uniform,” but He unites us with a special glue called “peace.” Disunity grieves the Holy Spirit, but when we choose to submit ourselves to the in-filling of the Holy Spirit, He will work to unite us by giving peace that binds us. We are then responsible for diligently keeping this unity.

Today, may we aim toward a lifestyle that demonstrates humility, gentleness, patience, acceptance, and unity. And may this be our testimony to the world about who we are as Christians.

Lord, Lead us through this day to walk with You and one another and live out a lifestyle that is worthy of our calling. Amen.