| “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” |
| —Ephesians 5:1-2 |
“If I watch you walk, I can determine your attitude.” The motivational speaker proclaimed his key sentence for this plenary session at the national conference of the American Society for Training and Development—now known as the Association for Talent Development. During my tenure as Director-Loss Prevention Training at Industrial Risk Insurers, and because of our experience in developing a full-fledged fire protection engineering certification program, I had the privilege of attending several of these conferences.
As I listened to this particular speaker, I wondered what elements of my own gait offered insight into my attitude. And, did this include my personal attitude as well as my professional attitude? Or, was this observation limited to a particular point in time. In other words, would the speaker’s analysis of my attitude be limited to the immediate present during which he observed my walk?
Further along in his speech, it became apparent that he was speaking far more metaphorically than I had first thought. I immediately called to mind the number of times the Bible talks about our “walk” in referring to the manner in which we develop our discipleship in following the pathway God lays out before us. The Apostle Paul spoke of our “walk” when he offered this advice to the Christians in Ephesus, as recorded in Ephesians 5:1-2:
Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
What kind of walk should we exhibit as we follow in the footsteps of Jesus? Why a walk in the way of love, of course. And, what kind of love should we display? We should show the very same kind of love that Jesus illustrated when He died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. It’s a love that is marked by humility, self-sacrifice, and profound obedience.
As a new day begins and we step out into a needy world, will our “walk” give testimony to the self-sacrificing, humble, and obedient love of our Great King Jesus? I pray that we will—that you will and I will. I know that God will be very pleased if we do.
Based on a blog originally posted on Thursday, March 30, 2017
