Day 19 – Walk This Way
In the last few lessons, we saw at least some of what God has given us in Christ. When we look at it in such a concentrated way, it can be overwhelming! His love has shone through in a huge way, and He has been so generous! And all of it comes through His grace. We could not earn any of it – it is a gift, and we receive it through faith and trust in God and His faithfulness.
When you receive a significant gift from someone, it is always appropriate to thank them. And the same is true here: we need to maintain an attitude of thankfulness for God. But in this case, we should also go a step further; we should respond. And here we turn our attention to our response to God’s gifts in Christ.
Col 2:6says: As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. This is our part: God has placed us in Christ and blessed us with these great blessings in Christ, and our proper response is to walk in Christ – to walk in response to these blessings. This refers to our lifestyle, our actions, our words and our attitudes. God has done much for us in the spiritual realm, and if we truly lay hold of this understanding, it will show up in our outward, natural, day-to-day lives.
In an earlier lesson, we had talked about this in terms of marriage: when Bob marries Cindy, his behaviour will change. He starts to do some things he didn’t do before, and he stops doing some things he did before. He doesn’t change his behaviour so that he can be married, he changes it because he is married.
It’s crucial for us to understand this in relation to the Kingdom of God. As a Christian, I don’t behave certain ways so I can be saved, I behave certain ways because I am saved. Everything about my life flows from my relationship with God.
This is what walking in Christ is all about. In two of the benefits we looked at in the last lesson, this is very clear:
Eph 2:10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Eph 5:8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.
Because we are blessed in these ways, we should be walking in those blessings. While some of this may come naturally, it also needs to be intentional and will require self-discipline.
Consider:
How do I feel about adjusting my behaviour because of a certain relationship?