Where are you walking?

Where are you walking?

by David Brenneman 

We all walk a path in life...where are you going?

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." 2 Corinthians 5:17.   Is this a reflection of your life?  That something new is at work in and through you?  That, from the outside looking in, it would be said of you that you're walking with Jesus?

Do you see this in yourself that the Spirit is directing your paths?  Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight." Or "Man’s steps are ordained by the Lord,

How then can man understand his way?" Proverbs 20:24?

Is this also evident in your life? "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." Ephesians 2:10.

Rooted and built up.  Established is perhaps a stronger, better, way to state that.  

In our first year in our new-to-us home, we had 2 very tall pine trees.  After a professional evaluation, it was determined to have them removed because the roots were too shallow.  The right kind of storm and they would come down, perhaps into our property, perhaps into one of our vehicles or the house.  As to a way to say it, while the outward appearance was vibrant growth, these were not walking in the ways of the Earth to be long-lasting trees.  

People who are left behind often reflect on the lives of those who were recently deceased, trying to find fitting words to convey how special these people were to family and friends.  My life, as it is, if so described, I would want people to know that it was evident that I loved Jesus and wanted others to come to Him for salvation too.  Nothing else of my life is as valuable as that to me. 

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word What a glory He sheds on our way! While we do His good will, He abides with us still And with all who will trust and obey. 

Would people say they saw you trusting and obeying Jesus?  Would they say that you pointed people to Jesus?  

I really do not want people describing me as loving anything in this world.  Because I do not love any of my possessions.  Nor have I loved any of the places that I have worked.  

We are either walking with Jesus or we are not.  We are to be following Jesus, not to be the ones directing His paths.  Disciples are followers, not the ones telling the Master how it is or how it will be. 

Would you take a look at your priorities?  Do you engage in things, go places, do life, in ways that are not that of a follower of Jesus Christ?  Do you justify trash talking others?  Do you persist in going a way that will not be God honoring in the end?  Does the work of your hands build you up and not others in the faith?  

Rooted and established.  Jesus said He is the vine and we are the branches.  That if we indeed abide in Him we will bear much fruit. That apart from Him we can do nothing.  This is to say that what we would be doing apart from the will of God would be worthless, a waste of time and resources.  We, in essence, be hearers of the word and not doers of it. 

Is finding out what God wants for you important to you?  Are you reading His words to you?  Are you talking to Him as one would respectfully talk to your Teacher?  In any classroom setting that I have ever been in, to disrespect the teacher would never go well for the offender.  

If we truly mean "your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven" wouldn't it be seen in your life?  

Take a good look at your priorities. 

Take a listen to yourself as you speak to yourself and others. 

Take a look at even 24 hours of your life. Who got those minutes?  Were they spent wisely as the man who built his house upon the rock?  Were they spent as the other guy, on the sand?

Are you really honoring your Teacher or making sure the honor goes to you?

What we do for Jesus is what will survive that trial by fire.   Everything else will be counted as a waste. 

It's not too late.  Start today with a new commitment to being the follower of Jesus Christ that you ought to be.  Be prepared to let go of the things that will not bear righteous fruit in your life.  If you are truly giving your life to live in Christ to Him alone, there will be things, habits, and other things to let go of. 

Trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus...but to trust and obey. 

All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation.