MIF 12:5 (Sept-Oct 1980)
Walking With God
“Enoch walked with God” (Gen. 5:24).
“Enoch had this testimony, that he pleased God” (Heb. 11:5).
Walking is highly recommended as a form of physical exercise. But in the Biblical sense, walking often refers to the spiritual exercise of one who has been redeemed by God’s grace and whose life is under His control. To walk with God is to live so as to please God, just as Enoch did for 300 years. In a world just as full of corruption and sin as it is today, Enoch lived in harmony with God’s will. He didn’t try to remake the world, but the divine tribute to his life style is simple and eloquent: “he pleased God.”
Our profession of faith in Christ has little influence on those about us if it is not accompanied by a new way of life, a new way of thinking, and by new objectives. And this is not impossible in the situation in which God has placed us. He is able and willing to give us the grace we need to walk in open and conscious fellowship with Him, even midst the most trying and unfavorable circumstances.
What does it mean to walk with God? It means to:
· Walk worthy of our vocation as believers (Eph. 4:1).
· Walk in wisdom (Col. 4:5).
· Walk in the light … one with another (1 John 1:7).
· Walk in obedience to His commands (2 John 6).
· Walk honestly (Rom. 13:13).
· Walk circumspectly (Eph. 5:15).
· Walk in love, as Christ also has loved us (Eph. 5:2).
If we substitute the verb “live” in place of “walk” in the above verses, the essential meaning is preserved and we have a guide for living so as to please God and a witness to others of our faith in Jesus Christ. Walking alone in the flesh can be dull, but if we have the faith of Enoch we can have a closer walk with God as our Companion, and those around us will know we are walking “in newness of life” with the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
— Arthur F. Wilder