How is your sole? Do you have a good pair of walking shoes? Following after Jesus is not for the faint hearted or the tender footed: for there are river’s to cross and mountains to climb on the way to the Promise Land. Disciples resolved to reach the summit where transfiguration occurs, will need to mind their feet carefully. Why? Because living for Christ is realized in the Believer’s walk.
The Christian’s daily relationship with Jesus is often referred to as their “walk with Christ.” During Jesus’ three year ministry, the Lord and his disciples walked from home to home and town to town, bringing the good news of God’s love to people from Bethlehem to Mt. Hermon. The word “walk” itself has no significance; for if they had cars in those days, perhaps we would say, mind your “ride with Jesus.” What the term is meant to signify is how closely one travels in life with their Savior.
Pondering this can be very enlightening for the child of God. For while we claim to “walk” with the Lord, many of us fall behind, take alternate roads and sometimes race ahead of Him. We do this by getting caught up in living lives focused on ourselves and loved ones rather than Jesus. Some question the Lord’s path and decide to go their own way hoping to take a short cut or detour to avoid road work. Many believers fail to accept God’s timing and set out on their own. Yet when you pause to consider how the disciples “walked” with Jesus--the intimacy they had with the Lord-- a fresh perspective may be found.
The disciples and Jesus basically, spent three years in one another’s company. With only a few exceptions, these men travelled at the Lord’s side for three years: that is 1,095 days, 3,285 meals, and who knows how many lessons and prayers they shared. Of course, not everything was serious between them. With a band of guys travelling the countryside together, you know there were a great number of jokes thrown into the mix. How many songs did they sing? What number of stories did they tell?
Now…how many steps do you think the disciples took in that time? Considering the average person today takes approximately 5000 steps per 24 hours we are looking at some significant numbers. However, when we apply these stats to biblical times—where they walked everywhere—we soon discover the magnitude of the meaning: to walk with the Lord. And to think they did all this walking in sandals!
Truly, minding one’s spiritual feet is of great importance; especially when you consider how much “walking” followers of Christ should be doing in the Lord’s company. Managing our walk is not to set apart time in our day to spend with the Lord. Rather, we are to mind every part of our day in His holy presence. Walk through our day with Him at our side. Introduce Him to others we come in contact with, converse with Him about our lives, sing songs about his goodness together while you’re traveling down the road and sit quietly so you may listen to all He has to say.
For many believers the idea of physically walking and talking with Jesus sounds heavenly. We imagine the thrill of watching the Lord’s miracle after miracle and experiencing His spirit in all circumstances. However, one may not be so thrilled about traveling with the mixed bunch of characters who tagged along with Him. Certainly the disciples were an interesting group: fishermen, a tax collector, a carpenter, brothers and who knows what occupations the others held.
Our experience in the body gives us an indication of the variety of personalities and character the disciples may have had. And while it is lovely to gather on Sunday with the body and perhaps even once or twice more during the week, many would struggle spending three years intimately travelling on the road with such a group. So naturally, we can assume there was a number of…we’ll call them differences, on the journey.
Oswald reminds us that the Lord does not want explanations from his follower’s “about the wonderful revelation you have had…” No. Jesus wants us to simply feed His sheep. Walk with them, love them, care for them and nurture them. “Jesus has some extraordinarily peculiar sheep: some that are unkempt and dirty, some that are awkward or pushy, and some that have gone astray!” Jesus commands that Christian’s go into “all the world,” to every people group, and share the gospel. Basically, the Lord has made the job easy. By including everyone in the plan, Christians don’t have to worry about discerning who to share the love of Christ with. It’s simple…EVERYONE!
Walking intimately with Jesus will mean that we will need to “walk” intimately with others on our journey. Some we will enjoy spending time with, others may rub us wrong and cause a blister or two. Still the devoted follower of Christ will learn--in time--how to keep the Lord’s pace in all things. Loving our sojourners will be one of them.
Following after Jesus is a “soul” issue. Tread with care.
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