Walk in the Lord

I will strengthen them in the LORD and in his name they will walk,” declares the LORD. (Zechariah 10:12)

Christians are called to “walk the talk” and “talk the walk”. We need to have integrity – a consistency of character – if we are to be faithful in representing Christ to the world.

Too often, I fall far short of this ideal. I rely so much on my own strength to accomplish things in pastoral ministry that I have little energy left to devote to being the spiritual head of my household. More than anything, I need the balance we gain when we walk steadily in the name of the Lord.

Nathaniel Hardy wrote –

"Spiritual rest maketh no man idle, spiritual walking maketh no man weary."

When we walk the Lord, we get the rest we need, and gain the strength to follow him wherever he leads us.

Practicing What We Preach

[Jesus said,] “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’”
Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’ ” (Matthew 15:7-11)

Integrity is an essential character trait of a true Christian. Our actions need to be in line with our speech and our speech needs to be in line with our faith in Christ. St. Francis put it this way –

“It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.”

We can’t get very far trying to encourage someone to walk with Christ unless they can see that we are walking with him ourselves.

Piety vs. Pettiness

For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:20)

The Pharisees were the religious leaders of their day. They were not that different from many of us as church leaders today. We struggle to uphold the standards of Scripture, all the while falling short in our own walk of faith. We put on piety in worship and replace it with pettiness as we leave.

Nothing damages the message of Christ’s love more than the lack of integrity in Christ’s messengers.

G.K. Chesterton once wrote –

“The only good argument against Christianity is Christians.”