By Shirley Rosemarie Evans
Therefore, I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.
Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.
Ephesians 4:1-4, 22 NLT
I recently relocated to the US from the UK to join my husband. My husband is US-born of part Native American heritage. I am British-born to Jamaican parents. That is a number of diverse cultures coming together. One of the things that I frequently remark on to my husband is how the common language of the UK & US is English, yet there are differences, particularly here in the South, which has a distinct dialect. I find myself often having to rethink and rephrase sentences to ensure that what I say others understand. On occasions in conversation with my husband, I make a comment on how things are done in the US compared to the UK, and my husband’s stock reply is, “Well, Shirley, you are in the US now.” In other words, if I am to enjoy life in the US, I must let go of the way things are in the UK and take hold of my new life here.
To live to our full potential as believers and citizens of the Kingdom, we must let go of the old. Paul urges the Ephesians to “lead a life worthy of your calling.” This does not mean that having been saved, we now have to earn our salvation; no salvation is a done deal completed by Christ on the cross and accredited to us in full when we come to faith. Rather to walk worthy is to live so that our walk matches our talk. It is not enough to say we are Christians; we must demonstrate by our actions that we belong to Jesus. So, as Paul says, we operate in humility, we are forgiving, and we are loving even when we are not loved; furthermore, as believers, we have all received the same spirit uniting us with Christ and with each other.
Paul goes on to tell the Ephesians that they must throw off their old way of thinking and doing, and indeed we must, we determine by the Spirit’s help that we will no longer do those things that will impact our witness:- lying, stealing, sexual immorality, unforgiveness, pride etc. Such behaviours belong to someone we used to know, and as we submit to Christ and choose to live by His Spirit, He changes our desires. It is not the work of a moment, but it is a necessary process.
The call to follow Jesus is transformational and unique. We have been called out of darkness into light (Acts 26:18), out of slavery to sin to freedom (Romans 6:16–18), and out of the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:9; Colossians 1:13), from hopelessness to hope (Jeremiah 29:11).
This is something to shout about and without needing a pulpit to preach, may this command be reflected in our daily lives as we rely on His divine power at work in us to “walk worthy.”
Ask: Why would Paul call the Christian life “a walk”?
Seek: How does the word “worthy” speak to you in your daily living? How are you applying this command?
Knock: Pray and ask God to show areas of your life where your walk does not match your talk and then ask Him by His Spirit to help you to do what is necessary.
