The Attitude of Walking Worthy

This great text on the worthy walk really deserves our diligent faithful study, because it reveals a basic truth that we need to consider. This is it. The Christian life is not a matter of what you do first, it is a matter who you are. That’s the heart of it all. And you’ll notice here that Paul says walk worthy, and walking as we’ve been saying is the idea of daily conduct. It’s the idea of daily living, it’s the idea of daily life, what you do, how you live. But it’s most interesting to me that when he says walk worthy, here’s how.

He never discusses an action, he never discusses a work, and he never discusses a deed. All he ever discusses is an attitude, because the worthy walk is not so much a matter of what you do as it is of what you are. There are plenty of people who can do the deeds and not be the person. That’s the hypocrisy that the Bible talks about. It is possible to have what I call action fruit, the action fruit, the fruit of the lips, praise in Hebrews, the fruit of unselfishness, giving, Philippians 4, the fruit of Romans 1, winning someone to Christ, the fruit of Colossians, all good works.

It’s possible to have the action fruit without the attitude fruit. You know what the attitude fruit is? The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. That’s attitude fruit. Now watch. If you have action fruit without attitude fruit, that’s legalism. If you have action fruit, first of all love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control, it produces action fruit. That’s true spirituality. And so when God talks about the worthy walk, it doesn’t begin with the action. That’s going to come later in the chapter. It begins with the attitude.

You understand that? Our Christian life works this way. It starts with the Holy Spirit. He works through the attitude, and the attitude produces the action. So what happens? Walk worthy. What does that mean, Paul? It means lowliness, meekness, long suffering, forbearing love, and endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit. Those are all attitudes. Those are all inner graces. You know, for many Christians they miss this altogether. For many Christians, really, walking the Christian walk, really living the Christian life, means going to church, or putting money in the offering, or owning, and even occasionally reading a Bible, or not swearing, or not drinking, or not committing a crime, or whatever.

And we, there are many people who see that external definition of prescription behaviour as the fact of Christianity, when that is simply the manifestation of it. The biblical issue is not what we do, apart from what we are. It is what we are that results in what we do. And that’s what God is after. So Paul says walk worthy, and he is speaking then immediately after that of the attitudes that make it possible. Thank you for joining us in this exploration of the attitude of walking worthy. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world.

To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way. [tr:trw].