"Walking"

 

“Walking”

 

(Please read the previous posting “Don’t Give In!” before this one.)

As I wrote about Karen’s experience after her foot operation I became curious about walking. In my medical chaplaincy work we used the abbreviation ADL for “activities of daily living” which in part measured a patient’s improvement or decline. A key component in evaluating one’s condition is walking. Much of the work of physical therapists is assisting their patients in restoring this ability after an accident or surgery. There’s great rejoicing when the desired result is achieved.

Walking involves activity, progress, a step-by-step process and moving towards a goal. It’s a skill which we often take for granted without thinking about the blessing it is to us until circumstances hinder our mobility. It’s a cause for celebration when the walker, crutches and cane are no longer needed and life returns to some sense of normalcy.

“Walk” in its various forms appears more than 400 times in the King James Bible. As I checked it out in Strong’s Concordance it seems that it’s used primarily in the physical sense in the Old Testament and metaphorically in the New Testament (where the newer translations often render it “live”). Here are some examples:

*Colossians 1:10 (NASB)—“,,,Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord….” (see 1 Thessalonians 2:12).

*Ephesians 4:1 (NKJV)—“…Walk worthy of the calling with which you were called….”

*Ephesians 5:8 (NKJV)—“Walk as children of light.”

*Romans 13:13 (NKJV)—“…Walk properly….” (other translations render it “decently”).

*Ephesians 5:2 (NKJV)—“…Walk in love….”

*Ephesians 5:15 (NASB)—“…Be careful how you walk….”

*Colossians 4:5 (NKJV)—“Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside….” (see 1 Thessalonians 4:10).

*1 John 2:6 (NKJV)—“…Walk just as He (i.e. Jesus) walked.”

(Emphasis added in each case.)

I’m asking us to do two things as we think about the above:

*Substitute “live’ for “walk” in each admonition and consider how it affects a Christian life-style.

*As we walk around a neighborhood, park, mall or somewhere else view it in terms of how we’re doing in our walk with Christ (i.e. am I active in His work, making step-by-step progress and pursuing the goal of pleasing Him?).

It’s time to put on our walking shoes.

 

Grace and Blessings!

Jim McMillan