If you are growing in ‘…grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18), it will be seen in how you live your life. In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus he uses the word “walk” in exhorting the Christians how to live on a daily basis in a way that will please God. Five times he refers to how they should “walk” in the process of living.
The first exhortation is seen in Ephesians 4:1-3:
“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
We are called by the gospel which is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16). God calls us through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul states it this way in the First Thessalonians letter: “…that you may walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory” (I Thessalonians 2:12). When the gospel, the good news of Jesus, is preached and we respond by hearing, by believing, by repenting, by confessing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and by being baptized, we are raised to “…walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4; read Romans 6:3-11). That new life in Jesus will be worthy of the calling of God through the gospel when it is characterized by humility, gentleness, patience, love, and diligent effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in a peaceable way.
The old man and all his sin problems has been buried. The new man has been washed clean by the blood of Jesus and has the wonderful opportunity to start over. Our God is a lot of things, but surely we can see He is the God of a new start. Raised up from a baptismal burial to walk in “newness of life!”
Growing is our theme. Is spiritual growth seen in your walk of life? Is it a worthy walk? Or do you need a new start? If you do, God is willing.
— Les Ferguson Sr.,
S. Huntington Church of Christ
