3 If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; 4 Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. Leviticus 26:3-5.
This has been the guidelines and promises from God to mankind from the beginning. God shall reward those who are ‘stepping in the light’; the ‘Light’ being God’s son, Jesus.
Are we ‘Stepping in the Light’? Are we walking in the footsteps of Jesus? Are we keeping the commandments of God?
As we sang the song, Stepping In The Light, did you mean the words you spoke?
Trying to walk in the steps of the Savior
Trying to follow our Savior and King
Shaping our lives by His blessed example
Knowing and allowing the one who is leading–Jesus
Trusting our defender
Walking in footsteps of gentle forbearance, faithfulness, mercy and love Following your guide
Many today seem to follow Jesus; or they say they do. Yet the promises from God do not seem to regularly be coming. Those who claim to walk in His statues, are they really keeping His commandments, all his commandments, as He wishes? Have we erred from the truth by believing deceptions perpetrated by Satan? John 14:15. 15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. Christians are to study for themselves, rightly dividing the truth. Are we walking–living–in The Truth? Are we truly ‘Stepping in the Light’?
Let us consider how we are to ‘Walk’--”Step”.
WALK BY FAITH
Apostle Paul said we walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7. Do we follow Jesus or do we find our own way by what we see? Stepping in the Light of Jesus is to follow by faith. If we follow what we see and comprehend as the best path, we are not walking by faith but by sight. If we follow what others say and do, we may be following blind guides. To be pleasing unto God we must have faith. Hebrews 11:6.
We must believe in God and The Savior, Jesus. To increase our faith we must obey and follow our Lord. Too often assembly members blindly follow those they see around them or what they tell us.. Jesus said they are blind being led by blind leaders.
Matthew 15:12-14. 12 Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? 13 But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. 14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. We must follow The Commander, Jesus. We must shape our lives by the Redeemer’s example.
WALK HUMBLY
We are to walk humbly before God and man. God spoke through Micah saying, 8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6:8.
A humble spirit produces fruit of the Spirit. It is pleasing unto God. When one has a humble spirit, he will do justly; he will have a righteous mentality when he makes choices concerning himself and others. He shall walk uprightly. This shall consist of love and mercy; fruits of the Spirit, also.
Peter erred in his teachings to the Gentiles and Apostle Paul called him out. Peter was not being too humble before the Lord. In Galatians 2:11-17. 11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. 12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. 13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. 14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? 15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. 17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
Might we be walking in sinfulness and unaware? Could we be influencing others to walk in error as we might? This requires a constant self evaluation to know if we are faithful and true as well as what we see taught before the assemblies.
Walking humbly is submissiveness, meekness, and lowliness; of which there is no law.
WALK CIRCUMSPECTLY
When walking in the Light, we must walk as wise men; not as fools. This is called walking circumspectly. Ephesians 5:15. 15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Shaping our lives as the Lord is to be wise to the will of God and have the wisdom of the ways of Satan to overcome his deception.
To be circumspect is to keep ourselves correct in judgment. Knowing what is the real truth and being watchful and discreet; cautious; prudent: keeping one's self guarded against untruths, to be vigilant, and careful; careful to follow only Jesus is being circumspect. Those without truth shall recognize a difference in our manner of life from the world.
Walking as Jesus did places us in subordination to God and Jesus. We shall not become puffed up. We shall be followers not going beyond our guide.
Are we striving to walk as Jesus did? Perhaps a lesson from a child may help.
A young grandson was out in the garden with his grandpa. He noticed the rather large footprints in the loose soil. They were his grandfather’s; very big and pressed deeply into the soil. Each step was far apart from his normal step yet he made every effort to step only where grandpa did. This was a daunting task. He still tried to make each step stretching his little legs as far as he could. He wanted to do as grandpa did. Turning around and looking behind where he had been he noticed some of his steps were in the tracks of his grandpa and often little indentations were between. Though he could not keep every exact step, he still tried.
This is the concept of diligently striving to be found in favor with God; being diligent in our studies and lives trying to walk in the steps of the Savior.
Are you keeping with the footprints of Jesus? Are you missing a few? Are you still trying?
When our life comes to a close or if The Lord returns first, keep trying to step where Jesus did like the grandson was found doing.
