Sunday, June 03, 2012

Walking Worthy

Shared this with PWOC Japan this a.m. and want to capture it here as well. 

Paul instructs the church at Ephesus, and us, to Walk WORTHY of our calling in Ephesians 4:1.  He then goes on to describe what this will look like in the rest of the chapter. I encourage you to stop, go get your Bible, and read Eph. 4.  Good stuff, isn't it?

Walk speaks to the continual habits and patterns of our lives. The habits and patterns of our lives are to be suitable, proper - worthy (Strongs #516).

Walk Worthy (1 - 7) by walking in 
  • Humility (Strongs #5012a)
  • Gentleness (Strongs # 4240) - Gentleness is an in-wrought grace of the soul, its an attitude of the spirit which accepts God's dealings as good and does not dispute or resit. Aristotle defined gentleness as standing between getting angry without reason and ot getting angry at all! Gentleness encompasses getting angry at the right time, in the right measure, for the right reason. (Dr. Zodhiates, Complete New Testament Word Study Dictionary)
  • Patience (Strongs #3115) longsuffering; self-restraint before proceeding to action. Able to avenge yet refrains (Dr. Zodhiates - ibid)
  •  Tolerant Love 
    • Tolerance (Strongs # 430) to restrain, stop, hold up or back from falling - when dealing with others it is to bear with and have patience with errors and weaknesses. (Dr. Z ibid)
      • Note how this differs from society view of tolerance
      • Tolerance does at times involve restraining something or someone from danger
      • Tolerance is not accepting a clear error or sin with equal value of the truth
      • Biblical tolerance is patience towards those who are still growing to truth
    • Love - (Strongs #26) Agape - sacrificial, always with the good of the other in mind, CHOICE of the will
  • Diligent Unity - eager to preserve unity of spirit in the bond of peace
  • Grace-filled Gifts (and this will become a separate blog post)  - Strongs # 5485
    • Grace (Strongs #5485) 
      • God's unmerited, unearned favor
      • Changes things to new (Eph 2:8-9) without destroying individuality
      • Enables us to fulfill Christ's call 
    • Gifts are given according to His pleasure, to benefit the body, and there is enabling grace to walk out our gifts. 
As a list-maker I love this passage. As a fellow walker; it's a challenge isn't it? I encourage you to use this list to evaluate how you are walking? The good news is that His saving grace transforms our old man. 

Walking with you as we follow the King! 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

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