There are walks which are easy where the course of the path is straight and relatively flat, devoid of any difficulty. Then again, some walks are steep treacherous and demanding leaving us tired and perspiring. Walks can also lead us to grand and breathtaking vistas of possibilities and walks can lead us to dark and dangerous dead ended walls of despair.
Our faith often resembles a walk. We know the walk leads to a deeper relationship with our Savior and we also know to follow the path our Good Shepherd leads our feet to tread. We know we are safe on this route and we know He is beside us with His rod and staff. Still we stop and linger peering over edges of the trail as if they were not dangerous and glancing backward intrigued with side tracks that are definitely fruitless and leading us away from the path our Master wants to lead us on.
Trusting our Shepherd and Savior will always bless us, as obedience teaches us and allows us to continue further down the trail where we become more like the Master. His Holy Spirit will fill us with abundant sufficiency on our walk of faith, we just have to listen and follow. Ultimately we will find ourselves in God’s glorious presence forever … is there any other walk anywhere that will lead to such a place. All we have on this walk of faith is to trust the Master who knows the way.
“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:25-32, ESV).
Suggested Reading … Ephesians 4
