Walking Worthy
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. — Ephesians 4:1-4
I think, for many of us, our perspective of worthiness is skewed in one direction or another. Our backgrounds and wrong understanding of true holiness teach us that it is what we do or don’t do that makes us worthy or tips the scales in our favor. If this isn’t what the Bible teaches then what does it really mean to walk “worthy”?
The word “worthy” can be defined as: “deserving effort, attention, or respect”. So to walk “worthy of the calling” would be to walk in a way that shows the effort, attention, and respect the calling deserves. I think this section of scripture lays out a beautiful example for us to follow. Let’s look at a few of the ways we can walk worthy:
Lowliness
In Philippians 2:3, Paul tells us that lowliness is thinking of others as BETTER than ourselves and that lowly people look out for the interests of others not just their own. This lowliness is something that only God can judge. He alone knows how we estimate ourselves – a lowly person will esteem others highly.
Gentleness
Several places in scripture describe gentleness as a spirit, used in reference to how one approaches another who has fallen or needs correction (cf. 1 Cor. 1:21, Gal 6:1). The clearest example of this is that of a loving father correcting his child. The father’s only aim is the child’s good.
Longsuffering
The definition of this characteristic is probably obvious by simply breaking it into its two root words – suffering long. Most of us will claim to have experienced some suffering where other Christians are concerned, but how often are we willing to suffer LONG. I think this speaks directly to the point when we are ready to be finished suffering with the weakness or difference of another, and continue to pursue love.
Bearing with One Another in Love
Another word for this “bearing with” is “forbearing” and it’s definition is very revealing. It means to hold back, abstain, or do without. So if you use that definition, a paraphrase of this verse would read something like, “Doing without for love’s sake for the good of another”.
I think all of these are summed up in the closing statement of this section, “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”. Remembering that this is written in the context of walking worthy of the calling, we see that “walking worthy” is living out a life of love towards others in the everyday circumstances of life.
How different our estimation of ourselves often is from how God sees us. It is so easy to concentrate on much less important things that make us look better in others eyes and forget the most important thing – LOVE.