WALKING THE WALK

How often do you hear the old comment "Life is a journey"? It is a long walk meant to be taken with others. Across Canada, the USA and the world, at least in the northern hemisphere, millions of college and university students begin this week a new phase of their journey. They begin their university years of study. They begin to walk with a whole new community made up of other students, professors, and university staff. Those with whom they walk will have a tremendous impact on them for the remaining years of their lives. With whom they walk and how they walk will make all the difference in their future success and how they define success.

God's Word has much to say about walking the walk. From the first book in the Bible to the last, scripture speaks to us about the importance of walking. We were made to walk with God, to walk in righteousness and holiness. Here are but a few references to walking I discovered recently while reading devotional messages from the pen of Adrian Helleman:

• Genesis 3:8 - The man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day.
• Genesis 5:24 - Enock walked faithfully with God.
• Genesis 6:9 - Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of this time, and he walked faithfully with God.
• Genesis 17:1 - The Lord appeared to Abraham and said ". . . Walk before me faithfully and be blameless."
• Genesis 24:40 - As Abraham journeyed to find a wife for his son Isaac, "The Lord, before whom I have walked faithfully, will . . . make your journey a success."
• Genesis 48:15-16 - "May the God before whom . . . Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully ... may he bless these boys."
• Leviticus 26:12 - "I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people."
• Deuteronomy 5:33 - "Walk in obedience to all that the Lord . . . has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper."
• Deuteronomy 30:16 - "I command you today to love the Lord you God, to walk in obedience to him . . ."
• 1 Kings 3:14 - God says to King Solomon,"If you walk in obedience to me and keep my . . . command . . . I will give you a long life."
• 2 Chronicles 6:16 - "If only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me."
• Psalm 1:1 - "Blessed are those who do not walk in step with the wicked . . ."
• Psalm 15:1-2 - "Who may dwell in your sanctuary? . . . Those whose walk is blameless, who do what is righteous . . ."
• Psalm 119:1 - "Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord."
• Isaiah 35:8 - "A highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way."
• Jeremiah 7:23 - "Walk in obedience to all I commanded you, that it may go well with you."
• Micah 4:5 - "We will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever."
• Micah 6:8 - "What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."
• John 8:12 - The words of Jesus, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
• John 12:35 - "Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you."
• 2 Corinthians 6:16 - The Apostle Paul references passages from Leviticus 26, Jeremiah 32, and Ezekial 37: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
• 1 John 1:7 - "If we walk in the light . . . we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus . . . purifies us from all sin."
• Revelation 21:23-34 - "The glory of God gives the city light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light . . ."

Choose carefully with whom you walk. Walk with the Jesus and with those who walk with him. You may remember the story of the two disciples in the early post-resurrection days as they walked with Jesus to the little town of Emmaus, later they said (Luke 24:32) - "Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us." With whom do you walk each day? Walk with Jesus. Let him open your heart and mind to the Scriptures. Let him speak to you, guide you, encourage and affirm you in your journey through this life. Then you will walk the walk in ways that bring a blessing to others and in ways that change their world and yours.

JSR