How Are You Walking?
If you call yourself a follower of Jesus, are you walking worthy of your calling? How we live has a tremendous impact on our ability to honor God and our witness to the watching world. For those who name the name of Christ, we’re representing Jesus in everything we say and do.
While no Christian will be perfect in this life, we must strive through the power of the Holy Spirit to live lives that are honoring Jesus. Spiritual hypocrisy needs to be rooted out and eliminated from our lives. In Ephesians 4:1-3, the apostle Paul sends out a clarion call to Christians: you must walk in a manner worthy of your calling in Jesus.
Walk in a Worthy Manner
For the first three chapters of the book of Ephesians, Paul reminds the Ephesians of their standing in Christ. He tells them that they are blessed with every spiritual blessing, have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, and are on equal spiritual standing with Jewish Christians.
Starting in chapter 4, Paul transitions from talking mostly about doctrine to urging them to live righteously in light of their standing in Christ. He shows us that the truth of our salvation should have a direct impact on how we live our lives. In light of their standing in Christ and their great salvation, Paul urges the Ephesians to do something:
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
verse 1
Here is where we get into the heart of the book of Ephesians. The truth of God’s word should always lead to a practical outworking in our lives. Understanding Scripture should never just be head knowledge. It should always have a real-world application in our lives.
Let’s break down the phrase “walk worthy of your calling” to get to the heart of Paul’s plea. The concept of “walking” is used throughout Scripture to refer to day-to-day conduct. Your walk is how you’re living your life and the direction it’s going in. Paul is referring to the Ephesians’ daily conduct. Their everyday living must be worthy of their calling.
The Greek word for “worthy” speaks to balancing scales. For scales to be working, each side should perfectly match the other. For our walk to be worthy, our practical daily living should match our spiritual calling in Jesus. The word for “calling” speaks to the call to salvation. We have been called by God to be saved. We didn’t save ourselves (Eph 2:8-9). God chose who he would save before the beginning of time (Eph 1:3-6; John 15:16).
Therefore, since we’ve been chosen by God, our lives should reflect that. In fact, if we’re saved, our lives will reflect that. If we’ve been regenerated in Christ, we have been given new hearts and we will be walking in obedience. (This is the dominating theme of the books of James and 1 John: true faith is always accompanied by righteous, obedient living. See James 2:17-18 and 1 John 3:6, 9-10).
Paul goes on to explain what walking in a worthy manner looks like in our practical daily living. The first quality of a worthy walk that Paul mentions is humility.
Walk in Humility
with all humility
verse 2
The Greek word for “humility” means to “think with lowliness.” Shockingly, the Greeks and Romans didn’t have a word for ”humility” before the advent of Christianity, because the concept was so antithetical to their values and ways of thinking. They began using this as a term of derision for Christians.
Even in our day and age, self-esteem and pride are values that the world strives for, not humility. As Christians, we must live in opposition to that. We need to follow the example of Jesus, who perfectly modeled humility:
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:5-8
Since our salvation is a gracious gift from God, Christians should be the most humble people on earth. Our lives should be marked by humility. A prideful life is unworthy of our calling in Christ. Is your life marked by pride or by humility?
Next, Paul says we should walk in gentleness.
Walk in Gentleness
and gentleness,
Another name for “gentleness” is ”meekness,” which may conjure up an image of timidity in your mind. However, the biblical concept of meekness is really “power under control.” This term was used for wild animals that have been tamed. Think of a lion in a circus—the lion is still as deadly as it was in the wild, but it’s now keeping its power under control.
Jesus was the ultimate example of power under control. Being fully God, he had all the power in the universe, yet he submitted to the will of the Father and only used his power when necessary (Matt 26:52-54). Think of how easy it would have been for him to call down lightning to zap the Roman soldiers into ashes when they tried to nail him to the cross. However, he kept his power under control at all times.
Christians should be walking with self control. We must control our bodies and our tongues. We are to be gentle and not harsh in how we deal with people. It matters how we treat our spouses, children, friends, co-workers, cashiers at grocery stores, etc., because we represent Jesus with our conduct. Would you say your life is marked by harshness or gentleness?
Next, Paul tells us that we are to be patient if we want to live a worthy life.
Walk in Patience
with patience,
The Greek word for “patience” means “long tempered.” It carries the idea of enduring negative circumstances without giving into them. As Christians, we shouldn’t have a short fuse. We shouldn’t be flying off the handle. We should be patient with others even in the midst of the most frustrating circumstances. Again, Jesus is the ultimate example for us. As the perfect Son of God, he had to endure the sin and foolishness of the disciples day in and day out. Yet, he never engaged in unrighteous anger with them. How we react to the frustrations of life matters. Would you say your interactions with others are generally marked by impatience or patience?
Paul tells us next that we should be bearing with others in love.
Walk in Love
bearing with one another in love,
Selfless love should be at the core of our interactions with others. We should be bearing with the sins, failings, and irritations of others, because we have been forgiven and Christ bears with us. In 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, Paul says this about love:
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Are you a loving, self-sacrificing person or are you primarily concerned with your own selfish interests?
Paul tells us next that we should be pursuing unity with other believers.
Walk in Unity
eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
verse 3
The Greek word for “eager” speaks to “being diligent” or “making haste.” We should be pursuing and maintaining unity with other believers with a sense of urgency and diligence. Rather than being contentious or holding grudges, we should be pursuing peace.
Do you love drama or do you love peace? Do you regularly create conflict with others or do you diligently pursue peace? By being humble, gentle, patient, and bearing with others in love, we can pursue unity with other believers through the Holy Spirit.
A Worthy Walk
If our lives are consistently marked by pride, harshness, lovelessness, impatience, and conflict, we’re poorly representing Christ. While no Christian will be perfect, those sinful traits should not characterize how we’re living most of the time. A true Christian will have a regenerated heart and the Holy Spirit should be producing the fruit of the Spirit that are in keeping with a worthy walk. However, the good news of the gospel means that we have forgiveness in Jesus if we repent for the times we’ve fallen short in these areas.
Through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, believers can and should be walking in a manner worthy of their calling. By pursuing humility, gentleness, patience, love, and unity, Christians can bring honor to Jesus by having a worthy walk. So, I’ll ask again—if you call yourself a follower of Jesus, are you walking in a manner worthy of your calling in Christ?
