Walking the walk

Ephesians 4:1-3 Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling in which you have been called. With all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love. Being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit of the bond of peace.

Observation

Psalm 1 talks about walking in the path of sinners, but Jesus say's the road that leads to life is narrow and few find it (Matthew 7:13).  With that said, I think it awesome that Jesus would sacrifice His life, so that I could even be called. Well that news just makes me want to shout Hallelujah! The very cool thing is that His grace is available to all and He is calling all of us from the path of destruction.

But what do you do once you receive grace and get off of the path of sinners and on to the path of life?  What kind of manner of walking is required on the path of life? When you have spent so much time walking in sin, it can be hard to learn to walk in a new way.  However, our God is so gracious, He not only instructs us how to walk through His word, He provides the power and discipline to do so through His Spirit.

I love how the first step is with humility.  God is educating us that He has to lead, because frankly we are stupid sheep and have no clue how to walk in righteousness on our own.  The second is gentleness or like the King James Version bible say's we are to walk in meekness.  Meek means to be yielding, unassuming, and calm (dictionary.com).  Gentleness/meekness relates so much to the first step we take, it seems natural to be the very next step.

Patience or long-suffering can prove to be the most difficult in my opinion.  Over and over again God tells His people to wait on Him. But we are like kids asking our parents "Are we there yet?" Can you have patience without having humility and gentleness? Not in my opinion.   So patience would be the natural progression of the walk.

In our continued instruction in this walk we learn about being tolerant with one another out of love. Yes, our progression continues.  I can't be tolerant if I am not first humble, meek, and patient. 

Our last instruction in this scripture is to be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit of the bond of peace.  The word diligence implies that we have to be intentional about being peacemakers.  I believe the best way to be diligent about peace between You and well, anyone, is to seek to please God. Proverbs 16:7 say's that if you seek to please God, He will make even your enemies at peace with you. Seeking Him is first and foremost and putting His pleasure above Your own need to be justified is a great way to be diligent in preserving both unity and peace.

Application

I chose to memorize this scripture today, because I want to please God and God is in the people business. Now I am not the best with people, I sometimes feel I might even have a social disorder.  But I praise God, that this way of walking is a natural side effect of His Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) and He gives His Spirit generously to all who ask (Luke 11:13).

Prayer

Father, You are generous and kind. I praise You for Your mercy and grace, for choosing me before the foundations of the earth (Eph. 1:4).  Father, You are always with me and Your Spirit leads me on level ground (Psalm 143:10).  Even the darkest night is not dark to You (Psalm 139:11).  I stumble and struggle sometimes with this new walk, but I take comfort in know You lead the blind by way's that they have not known (Isaiah 42:16). I seek Your leadership in each area of my life, so that I may walk in a manner worthy of the calling in which You have called me.  Today, I ask for more of You.  Become more in me both this day and everyday of this life (John 3:30)