This morning, the little prayer book that my son gave me last Christmas was about the longing to help needy people. It gave several specific examples of doing that, such as giving my sandwich to a homeless person or visiting someone who is sick or in prison.
This set me up for today’s devotional entitled, “Walking with God includes reconciliation, obedience from the heart, and ongoing faith” and based on the verse, “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” (Genesis 5:24)
MacArthur generalized walking with God to being a reference for my manner of life. He quotes as an example:
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; (Colossians 1:9–10)
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. (Ephesians 4:17)
Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1–2)
These are great verses, yet they are general, basic descriptions of attitudes helpful to discern actions yet not specific. My mind is continually full of good ideas. I even dream them, and that little prayer book adds more suggestions. No day is long enough to do all that comes to mind.
Even MacArthur’s examples implied from Enoch’s walk are general, such as reconciliation from: “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?” (Amos 3:3) From this, Enoch was obviously reconciled with God through faith.
The second example is: “And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.” (2 John 6) MacArthur says walking with God is obedience, again a broad term and too general to help with deciding what specific actions God wants from me.
The third example is the same: “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving . . . . for we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 2:6-7; 5:7)
While these describe attitudes and are helpful, they do not tell me if walking with God on any given day means visiting DD in the hospital, or staying home and finishing a quilt for SW, a needy refugee. Do I invite the neighbors for dessert or call on a lonely widow?
For me, walking with God is about an intimate relationship where I hear His whispers directing me, feel the tug of His hand in specific directions, and just know that He wants me to do this or that. Of course, the right attitude needs to be in place but there is a subjective side to all this and it cannot be given in a sermon or defined by a devotional.
PRAY: Jesus, I am so thankful that You reconciled me to yourself and gave me faith to take hold of Your hand. I praise You also for helping me love others as You love them. Most of all, I’m thankful that You speak to me by Your Spirit so that I can know exactly what my minutes, hours, days should look like and the insight to realize when I have let go of Your hand and taken another path. Also, I’m glad that when I do stray, Your voice calls me back beside You, again holding Your hand and walking with You.
PONDER: Paul wrote “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16) This means recognizing the flesh and the motivations of my heart. The best and perhaps the only way to do that is through a constant habit of reading and studying. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12) which is another gift from Him!
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