Walking with God is a term used often in the Bible. Does it mean you head over to the local park and start walking the nature trail? Do you head up to North Georgia to stroll through a mountain pathway? It could include those activities but they in themselves don’t secure a ‘walk with God.’ The book of Ephesians offers 7 different ways of walking with the Lord. Today’s blog will be a little shorter but will offer you a road map for deeper study on your own.

  1. There is a walk of obedience (Ephesians 2:1-2). O-B-E-D-I-E-N-C-E is the very best way to show that you believe. The spelling of obedience is the beginning of a good little song we used to sing. In the OT, the book of Samuel declares to “obey is better than sacrifice.” Following the commands of God is better than offering a lamb on an altar.
  2. “Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called” (4:1). Our calling is to represent the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Every day the main job as a Christian is to make Jesus look good.
  3. We are to walk in love (5:2). We remember how the Lord Jesus loves us, and we do the same toward others. Spurgeon was visiting a man who had purchased a farm. On the weathervane were the words “God is Love.” Spurgeon asked the man, “Did you mean that God’s love is as changeable as the wind?” “Oh no,” replied the man, “I mean that God is love whichever way the wind blows.”
  4. Walk circumspectly (5:15). Be careful how you conduct yourself. Your life may be the only Bible that the world ever reads. When I was in college the cheapest place to buy gas was a place called Hess. One day, after pumping some gas, one of our students at BUA handed the attendant a gospel tract. The attendant said, “You must be one of those Bible college kids. I get these things given to me all the time.” What a wonderful testimony that was for the students. They were looking for others to hear the good news, the Gospel.
  5. Walk not as other Gentiles walk (2:17). Unsaved people participate in activities and vice that God’s people should not. Lot was a carnal believer, and the Bible says that he “vexed his righteous soul.” Christians can sin just as the world can sin; they just can’t enjoy it. Those who claim to be Christian and walk (live) like the world for years and years, ought to seriously examine themselves to see if they are truly in the faith.
  6. Walk as children of light (5:8). H.L. Hastings tells this story: “A friend of mine visited the Fiji Islands in 1844, and what do you suppose an infidel was worth there then? You could buy a man for a musket, or if you paid money, for seven dollars, and after you had bought him you could feed him, starve him, work him, whip him, or eat him – they generally ate them, unless they were so full of tobacco they could not stomach them! But if you go there today, you could not buy a man for seven dollars nor for seven million dollars. There are no men there for sale now. What has made the difference in the price of humanity? The 1200 Christian chapels scattered over that island tells the story. The people have learned to read that Book which says, ‘ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ’; and since they learned that lesson, no man is for sale there” (Short Talks: D.L. Moody (Revell Company, 1900).
  7. Let us walk in good works (2:10). There is a motto that was first written in England in the 1800’s. “For the sake of the Lord Jesus, do all the good you can, to all the people you can, by all means you can, in all the places you can, as long as you can.” Are you familiar with the phrase ‘pay it forward’? Often, when sitting in a drive through, I have had the person in front of me pay for my coffee or hamburger. My first thought is “I like that man, I bet he’s Christian.” Why do I think this? It is the way Christians act. They want to help others, especially helping them learn the Gospel.

Now you have seven little, short passages to think about. Read them slowly and deliberately. Let the Word of God dwell in you richly.