Author: Gary Witcher

Christian Walk (1)

     "He is on the path of life who heeds instruction," the wise man Solomon advises in Proverbs 10:17, "But he who forsakes reproof goes astray."
     We all know that life is a walk.  Each of us travels along a selected pathway, making choices as we encounter each crossroad.  But, as we notice from the words of Solomon, some choices will carry us in the right direction while others will lead us astray.
     "Enter by the narrow gate;" Jesus warns in Matthew 7:13-14, "for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it.
     "For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it."
     It would probably be a waste of time to try to convince you which path you should choose.  When Jesus puts "destruction" and "life" side-by-side, the selection becomes clear-cut.  All of us want to end up with life and not destruction.
     But the real questions arise when we begin to discuss the pathway that will carry us in the right direction.  Of course, if we believe that the road to life is broad and most people find themselves on that road, then we may not be too concerned about our own situations.  This is what much of the religious world teaches.
     If, however, we place some importance on what Jesus has to say about the subject, we find ourselves with a more pressing situation.  Jesus does not promise a broad road that leads to life.  He warns of a broad road that leads to destruction.  He promises a narrow road that leads to life.  Now we begin to be concerned about how we can be sure we are on the narrow road and not the broad one.
     Returning to the words of Solomon, we find the key to the gate we are seeking to open.  The instruction of the Lord will direct us along the path of life.  If we forsake what the Lord has to say, we will go astray.
     "He who walks in his uprightness fears the Lord," Solomon states in Proverbs 14:2, "But he who is crooked in his ways despises Him."
     "Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the Lord," the prophet Isaiah calls in Isaiah 2:5.
     "Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression," the same prophet notes in Isaiah 30:20-21, "He, your Teacher, will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your teacher.
     "And your ears will hear a word behind you, 'This is the way, walk in it,' whenever you turn to the right or to the left."
     "And a highway will be there, a roadway," Isaiah promises in verses 8-10 of chapter 35, "and it will be called, 'the highway of holiness.'  The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for him who walks that way.  And fools will not wander on it.
     "No lion will be there, nor will any vicious beast go up on it; these will not be found there.  But the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord will return, and come with joyful shouting to Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads.  They will find gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away."
     "And I shall give them one heart, and shall put a new spirit within them," God says through the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 11 verses 19-21.  "And I shall take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances, and do them.  Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.
     "But as for those whose hearts go after their detestable things and abominations, I shall bring their conduct down on their heads."
     "Whoever is wise," Hosea 14:9 points out, "let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them.  For the ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous will walk in them, but transgressors will stumble in them."
     It is not hard to see from these Scriptures that there is a right path and a wrong one.  Nor is it difficult to understand that only the instruction of God can guide us in the right direction.

     We have seen what Jesus has to say in Matthew 7 about our walk in the right pathway.  In Ephesians 4, Paul discusses the maturity we are able to achieve through the knowledge of Christ.
     "As a result," Paul observes beginning in verse 14, "we are no longer children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for building up of itself in love.
     "This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.  But you did not learn Christ in this way."
     What is Paul trying to tell us?  He is saying that there is a right way and a wrong way to walk.  He says that those who choose the wrong walk do so because they lack understanding and are ignorant because of the hardness of their heart.  They don't understand because they don't want to understand.  As a result, they do everything that God does not want them to do.  Whether or not we follow after them depends on how we have learned Christ.
     "Therefore, gird your minds for action," Peter announces in 1 Peter 1:13-19, "keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
     "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'
     "And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ."
     The word that is translated here  "conduct yourselves" is the same one that is rendered "walk" in other passages.  "Walk in fear during the time of your stay upon earth," is what Peter is explaining to us.
     What are we to fear?  Are we to live every moment in fear of God?  No, Peter explains this fear in terms of the value of what we are holding in our hands.  Imagine holding in your hand a vase from the Ming Dynasty.  How are you going to walk?  Are you going to skip around carelessly, or are you going to fearfully watch each step as long as you are holding the vase?  Are we to take our walk lightly?  How much more serious would we be about our actions if we realized that the Christian walk is made possible only because of the priceless blood of Jesus?
     "And this is the message we have from Him and announce to you,” 1 John 1:5-7 states, "that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
     "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."
     "The one who says, 'I have come to know Him,'" 1 John 2:4-7 continues, "and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected.  By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
     "Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard."
     The person who selects his own footsteps is walking in the wrong direction.  Only the footsteps of Jesus lead toward life.  During the next several weeks, Lord willing, we'll be taking a look at the path that God want us to follow.
     "I know, O Lord," Jeremiah 10:23 acknowledges, "that a man's way is not in himself; nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps."
     "Thy word," David says in Psalm 119:105, "is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path."
     Only the truth that comes from God will lead us down the path of freedom.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."