December 28, 2017

The Bible describes our relationship with Jesus as “walking.” Colossians 2:6 teaches us that accepting Jesus leads to doing life with Him. We are to “be occupied with Him” and “walk about” with Him. One of the gifts of friendship is to be able to walk and talk with someone we trust.

Luke 24 records the story of some people walking to Emmaus on the day that Jesus rose from the grave. They were talking about the Resurrection and unaware that it was Jesus who joined them. “Beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (verse 27).

Eventually, they realized that it was Jesus, but for a time, they walked with Him unaware of His presence. I do not ever want to be in that situation – oblivious to Jesus’ presence. Actually, for followers of Jesus, it is impossible to be away from His presence because His Spirit is joined to our spirit. Unfortunately, we can ignore that reality, thinking and acting as though we are away from Him.

In our culture, we may need to define “walking” in larger terms – like driving, thinking, talking and listening – the total process of doing life. To “walk in Christ” means to “live in Christ.” There is no part of our life that is outside of this relationship. Jesus is Lord of all, not just a part of our experience. After all, at Salvation, we were given Heaven; it is a very small requirement for Jesus to get our total life between now and then.

A song describes “walking with Jesus” this way: “Each step I take, my Savior goes before me. And with His loving hand, He leads the way . . . Each step I take, I know that He will guide me to higher ground, He ever leads me on. Until someday, the last step will be taken. Each step I take, just leads me closer home.” Knowing Jesus, we can walk with confidence into 2018.

Pastor Bill Ehmann