BEing Jesus’ WALKing and TALKing Disciple

Chapter Two What does it mean to WALK?

Before our baptism into Christ Jesus, we didn’t walk with Him or with God. How could we? God’s Word tells us what our “life” was like before God’s mercy made us alive. Reading Ephesians 2:1-2 says it all! “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” Yes, there IS a devil! Yes, the devil IS at work in sinners!

Road Marker: Think back to your days before walking with God. What kind of walk did you have? What kinds of thoughts did you have and where did they lead you? Were you self-centered, self-focused, looking out for yourself? Were you consciously focused on being a good person, doing good things for good people? But subconsciously, if they’d didn’t do the same for you, would you stop being their do-gooder? If someone didn’t do for you, would you do for them?

Being truthful with yourself, I’m certain you could sum up your life as walking apart from God, being centered in sIn with you at the center. Am I right? Did you catch the spelling of that word “sin”? I’ll spell it again for you…sIn. Yes, you read it correctly! Apart from God and His unconditional love through His Son our Savior Jesus; “I” am at the center of it all. It’s all about “me”! Within the deepest darkness of each of us, we only care about ourselves and how we can benefit by others. We only love because we expect to receive love in return. Our nature is not to give; it’s to get! We’ll walk our own path with all the stuff we can muster to insure our own success. Ephesians 2:3 goes on to say, “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.” No boundaries necessary. No consequences standing in the way. No need for anyone or anything, let alone God and His holiness!

Our world would say the things of God and our need for God in our lives would be pure foolishness! Being in darkness, not even knowing what that meant was not brought to the conscious light of day in our lives. Paul point this out in 1 Corin- thians 2:14, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” Without God and His own Holy Spirit to accept the things of God, we not only fail to understand them. We fail to see any value in them at all! Foolishness! Our Lord Jesus points out that the world cannot accept God’s Spirit because being in the darkness of sin, separated from the light of God’s holiness, we cannot! “The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lies with you and will be in you.”(John 14:17)

Truly outside of the saving work of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are enemies of God! Our sinful nature and actions set us apart from the loving nature and grace of God, as we read previously in Colossians 1:21. God doesn’t want us to remain His enemies. God doesn’t want us to remain separated from Him, whether on earth or one day in heaven. He wants to walk with us and He made it all possible through His sinless Son, our Savior Jesus! “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Jesus), and through him (Jesus) to reconcile to himself (God the Father) all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his (Jesus) blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians 1:19-20)

God doesn’t speak empty words of promise to any one who would listen to Him. He speaks words full of promises fulfilled and delivered upon through His Son our Savior Jesus Christ. God talks the talk and walks the walk as you’ve come to realize, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”(Romans 5:8) He meets us on the road we’re on and says, “Come follow Me! I’ve made it possible by My own sacrifice in your place! I’m the peace that you seek!”