Walking with Jesus

I have loved walking for many years. It is a good form of exercise and relaxation. In fact, walking takes you to places which are inaccessible by other means. Walking along the coastal paths, along woodland trails or rugged hills opens up the beauty of God’s creation and opens your heart to experience His presence. Of course, it is extra special when you walk with someone you love and with whom you can share your heart.

In both the Old and New Testaments, the Bible speaks metaphorically about walking. It is speaking of a way of life, how you live, and asking which path you are on. To walk speaks of being active, involved, living life to the full. Walking speaks of character and lifestyle, and the way to walk is very clear. In the New Testament the right and wrong way to walk is clearly stated, because error was creeping into the Church and believers were being deceived. So how should we walk if we are to walk with Jesus and live in the light of His presence, proclaiming Him to a messed-up world?

Firstly, we should walk in the light. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). It is obvious that, if we are not in the light, we are not walking with Jesus. ‘If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin’ (1 John 1:7). Hidden sin keeps us trapped in darkness and breaks our fellowship with Jesus and with other believers, especially the sin of unforgiveness. The enemy wants to keep us trapped and break our walk with Jesus, in whom there is no darkness at all. The Holy Spirit will convict us when there are areas of darkness in our lives. If we ignore Him, He is grieved.

We should walk in the truth, because knowledge of the truth and obedience to it sets us free to walk with Jesus, who is the truth (John 8:32). The Apostle John was imprisoned for his faith when he wrote to the first century Christians, “It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth just as the Father commanded” (2 John 4). Some of the early Christians were being deceived by false teachers who were taking them from the path of truth and from their unsullied walk with Jesus. Is this same thing happening in the worldwide Church today, enabled by the use of social media? Biblical truth is absolute. There are no half-truths. You’re deceived when you think you’re right, but you’re wrong. We are called to know the truth, live in the truth, speak the truth, and walk with Jesus, who is the truth.

We should walk in obedience, because you cannot separate obedience from love. ‘And this is love, that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning, His command is that you walk in love’ (2 John 1:6). Biblically, true love for God nurtures instant obedience. This is not debating or arguing with God. It is the obedience of love, which doesn’t count the cost. Jim Elliot was a young American missionary, who with his wife, Elisabeth, and baby daughter went to Ecuador to take the Gospel to the Auca Indians. They murdered him, along with his colleagues. When Elisabeth returned to the tribe with her daughter and friend sometime later, she was greatly criticised. Her reply was, “Obedience is my responsibility. The consequences are God’s.” That heathen tribe became followers of Jesus. Someone who obeys Jesus, without counting the cost, truly loves Him, is walking with Him, and is demonstrating utterly unselfish love.

We should walk as Jesus did, as our text for today tells us. Jesus, the meek and lowly in heart, humbled Himself and became obedient, even to death on a cross. Jesus always did what the Father told Him and reached out to the lost and the broken. Jesus is the Saviour of the world. True joy and peace are found in walking with Jesus. Surely our relationship with Jesus is the most important thing in life. As Edwin Paxton Hood’s old hymn says, ‘Oh Walk with Him, that way is light. All other pathways end in night. Walk with Him. That way is rest. All other pathways are unblessed’.