The Bible describes our lifelong journey with Jesus as a walk. And I love that image.
Because walking is one of the most basic things that we do. We first learn to walk as small children, and then as we begin to walk throughout our lives, we get stronger and more steady on our feet.
It’s a great picture of the Christian life.
Walking is a normal experience in life, and the Christian walk is a normal thing as well.
I think we sometimes get the notion that the spiritual life is something so supernatural. And don’t get me wrong, it is supernatural.
But we sometimes think that it is so supernatural that it’s only reserved for our walk from the parking lot to the church to worship – or perhaps those special occasions when you are walking in service to Christ.
But, no, the Christian life… the walk that we have in Christ is an everyday walk. It’s something we do each day. And here’s the great news, God does not leave us to walk alone on this spiritual walk.
Romans 8:9–11 says…
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
What he’s saying is that we live in the Spirit – and since we live in the Spirit, we walk in the Spirit. What does that mean? Simply this…
To walk in the Spirit is to walk in obedience and dependence upon the Spirit of God who lives in our lives.
It’s something supernatural, but it’s also something that’s completely natural.
The great devotional writer, Oswald J. Chambers said, “The Christian life is supernaturally natural and naturally supernatural.”
In other words, in all things supernatural, we’re to be natural.
This is the normal Christian life and experience for the believer. This is not abnormal. What’s abnormal is to not walk in the Spirit.
So in all things supernatural we are to be natural. And in all things natural – the normal activities and daily functions of life – we’re to be supernatural.
That is, it all comes from God, whether we’re serving God or serving our family, whether we’re working and fulfilling a career, or whether we are praying or whether we are washing dishes.
There’s no dichotomy, it’s not a switch we “flip” when we need a boost from God.
Whatever we’re doing, we’re to do this walking in the Spirit.
This of course, doesn’t mean it’s always easy. It’s a process, just like our physical walk. The way you walk is one step at a time. And in once sense when we’re walking, it’s risky, isn’t it? You must learn balance while you are walking. And when you have trouble walking, maybe you have to hold onto something firm for support.
The Christian life, our walk with Jesus, it is risky too in the sense that we must live by faith and take one step at a time. We may not always feel steady on our feet, but as we walk in the Spirit more and more, we get stronger.
And the Good News of the Gospel is that because of what Christ has done for us through His death and resurrection, when we accept Jesus and follow Him, God’s Spirit dwells in us so that we do not walk alone. Walking in the Spirit isn’t something that eventually happens for the Christian. It begins at the moment of salvation.
So whatever you do today, whether it’s mundane or extraordinary, whether it’s easy or hard, you can know that because of Christ, God’s Spirit lives in you so you can walk in the Spirit.
You can uncover more Gospel truth like this in my new book Essential Gospel which I wrote to help you rediscover and recover the Gospel of Jesus and live in the hope and power of Christ each day.
