Walk Worthy Of God’s Calling Into His Own Kingdom And Glory – Ephesians 4:1
Lord, help me to walk worthy of your calling.
This one sentence prayer resides at the top of my prayer list. With all my heart, I want God to be pleased with the life I live. I want to hear the words, “Well done, Pat.” And I believe that walking worthy of God’s calling is my assurance of hearing those beautiful words.
Let’s talk about what God’s word says about walking worthy. In Paul’s letters to the believers in Ephesus, Colossae, and Thessalonica, he wrote to them about walking worthy.
I want to encourage you to read the verses below and let your eyes linger on the words walk worthy. Think about how they sit in the sentence. Do the words around walk worthy tell you anything? Does the sentence structure tell you anything?
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord,
beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
Ephesians 4:1
that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
1 Thessalonians 2:12
that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him,
being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Colossians 1:10
Obviously walking worthy topped Paul’s list of priorities in his relationship with Jesus and he led those under his influence to do the same.
In Ephesians 4:1 and 1 Thessalonians 2:12, Paul urged and, even himself, called believers to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. You and I have a calling into the kingdom of God. We were called into His own glory and that calling is still in effect. In fact, as I wrote in my past blog post, The Pursuit And Power Of The Hope Of God's Calling, God’s calling is irrevocable.
So what exactly does it mean to walk worthy of God’s Calling?
First and foremost, walking worthy is a true walk of faith which happens from the spiritual “in Christ” position. This means at some point we had an initial encounter with Christ where we said yes to His invitation to walk with Him. In case you haven’t said yes to Jesus & started this journey, as Paul wrote to the Corinthian church,
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
2 Corinthians 6:2
Do not let another day go by without starting the most incredible journey you can experience on this side of heaven!
Click here for a salvation prayer and next steps to help you begin your journey with Jesus.
How is WALK WORTHY defined?
I love studying God’s word by looking back into the original language, I believe it is so beneficial to understand the true message of the original author. Let’s talk about the term worthy first. Worthy or axios (G516) in the original Greek language is an adverb that describes the verb, walk. Worthy is defined as worthily, in a manner worthy of, properly. I love the English definition of worthy when defining the term as an adjective – equivalent in value to the sum or item specified.
The sum or the item specified is God, His calling, His kingdom, and His glory. I find it unfathomable that we can even hope or aspire to live a life that comes close to that kind of value. However, God’s word would not have called us to an unattainable set mark.
We want our life to be characterized by God and by others as worthy of God’s calling. Our “how to live” such a worthy life resides fully on Jesus and how He spiritually positioned us in Christ and clothed in His righteousness. Our part of our worthy life means walking so closely in relationship with Jesus that if we trip, we trip over His feet.
Now let’s talk about the term, walk.
In the original Greek language, walk is transliterated peripateo and it means to make one’s way, progress; to make due use of opportunities. The word origin of peripateo is a compound word.
peri meaning - about, concerning, on account of, because of
pateo meaning – a) to tread, crush with the feet; b) to advance by setting foot upon, tread upon; to encounter successfully the greatest perils from the machinations and persecutions with which Satan would fain thwart the preaching of the gospel.
If you are like me, that last part of the definition hurts my brain. So here is the same meaning a little easier to understand – “To encounter successfully the greatest dangers or risks from the schemes and persecutions with which Satan would gladly prevent the preaching of the gospel.”
Pateo reminds us that our spiritual enemy delights in coming up with ways to stop us from preaching the gospel. It also reminds me of the first Gospel message recorded which was preached by God Himself, speaking of what was to come. In Genesis 3:15, speaking to the serpent, God said,
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring
and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Genesis 3:15
The offspring of the woman mentioned in Genesis 3:15 is Jesus.
Paul wrote in Romans 16:20 – And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.
Which brings us back to our very first point of walking worthy.
Walking worthy is a true walk of faith which happens from the spiritual “in Christ” position.
In Christ, we are positioned to crush Satan under our feet. One of the ways we do that is by preaching the gospel with our lives and our mouths. The way we walk and talk is meant to share the gospel with those we live with, we work with, we go to church with, as well as our everyday encounters. Which leads me to our final point today.
Walking worthy is a victorious power walk.
1 John 5:4 - For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.
And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.
We are positioned in Christ, therefore we have the power to crush the head of our spiritual enemy as we walk in true faith. Our faith walk isn’t a stroll. It is a power walk. A victorious walk that tramples the plans of the enemy who seeks to steal, kill, and destroy in our lives, in our marriages, our children, our families, our churches, our communities, our nation, and our world.
The worthy walk is us walking in the power that we have been given and afforded because of the one who saved us and called us. So my dear sisters in Christ, as Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:1,
I beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which we were called.
Our faith in Christ positioned us in Christ. That same faith gifts us with abilities beyond ourselves and our own capacities and capabilities. Faith in Christ sets us up to live out the mandate and call of God’s word to walk worthy.
