One day last week at the Elementary School I happened to notice a little girl skipping down the hall on her way to class. Next came another young student that was watching the wall art more than what lay ahead. Lastly, another student buzzed by, not running, but walking about as fast as he could. Then I started thinking about the other hallway walks I’ve seen, the crawl, the slow plod, the distracted driver, the pusher, the corrector, the “I don’t want to go” as they are being led by the arm to the principal’s office, and the chatterbox. How we walk says a lot about our lives at that particular moment in time.
One of the ways that our relationship with Jesus is described is that of walking with Him. The idea of man walking with God goes all the way back to Genesis when God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden. Enoch and Noah were said to have “walked with God.” The disciples walked with Jesus as He traveled Judea and Galilee. Two walked with Jesus after His resurrection on the road to Emmaus. Paul instructed us to, “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” (Ephesians 4:1) Describing our relationship with God as a walk reminds us that our new life in Christ is not static or simply a label. Instead, our walk should be a dynamic every moment experience as we put into real-world practice the Good News of Jesus.
There is a picture I love in the Psalms of men and women on pilgrimage to Zion. “How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, In whose heart are the highways to Zion! Passing through the valley of Baca (weeping) they make it a spring; The early rain also covers it with blessings. They go from strength to strength, Every one of them appears before God in Zion.” (Psalm 84:5–7, NASB95) I believe that this is also a picture of our lifetime walk with Jesus. That our strength is in Him. That our hearts delight at being on this journey. That we should have an impact, bring change, offer healing, and leave blessings to our world as we pass by. Unlike a normal walk along a trail, we are not growing weaker as we go but are to be growing stronger and stronger until that day when we appear before God in Heaven.
As I watched the students pass by at school and the various ways their walks displayed their hearts I thought of our walk with Jesus. Are we skipping with joy or just plodding along? Are we pressing ahead or distracted by everything that passes by? Are we more focused on Jesus or the people, places, and things that are around us? Hopefully, none of us is the poor soul being led to the principal’s office.
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