by Kevin Burton
There is a song I love by the band Chicago called “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is.” Did you ever notice, it starts with walking?
The song’s philosophical statement is about the rat race. It’s about living up to the world’s standards and being in a big, ever-increasing hurry to do so.
“What time is it” is among the most-asked questions we have. The song says, and I agree, it’s among the worst, the most pointless. But the whole premise is launched on a platform of walking.
If you’re walking, by definition you’re going somewhere, but where really and why?
Walking has been on my mind this week since I received a message from Alistair Begg, speaker on the Truth For Life radio ministry about a walk with God. I’ve heard that walk with God phrase used a lot over the years. But I like the way Begg breaks it down. His message came as a comfort to me, and later I will explain why.
“If we have received Christ Himself in our inmost hearts, our new life will display its intimate acquaintance with Him by a walk of faith in Him,” Begg writes. “Walking implies action. Our Christian life is not to be confined to our closet; our belief must be revealed in our practice. If a man walks in Christ, then he must act as Christ would act; since Christ is in him—his hope, his love, his joy, his life—he is the reflection of the image of Jesus; and men will say of that man, ‘He is like his Master; he lives like Jesus Christ.’”
“Walking signifies progress. So walk in him. Proceed from grace to grace; run forward until you reach the ultimate degree of knowledge that a man can attain concerning Christ. Walking implies continuance. There must be a continual abiding in Christ.”
“Many Christians think that in the morning and evening they ought to come into the company of Jesus, but regard the rest of the day as their own: But this is poor living; we should always be with Him, treading in His steps and doing His will,” Begg writes.
“Walking also implies habit. When we speak of a man’s walk and conversation, we mean his habits, the constant theme of his life.”
“Now, if we sometimes enjoy Christ and then forget Him, sometimes call Him ours and then lose our hold, that is not a habit; we do not walk in Him. We must keep to Him, cling to Him, never let Him go, but live and have our being in Him,” Begg writes.
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him; persevere in the same way in which you began, and, just as at the beginning Christ Jesus was the trust of your faith, the source of your life, the principle of your action, and the joy of your spirit, so let Him be the same until life’s end, the same when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death and enter into the joy and the rest that remain for the people of God,” Begg writes.
“O Holy Spirit, enable us to obey this heavenly precept.”
These words were such a comfort to me because Begg talked about steady, purposeful walking, as opposed to breakneck, haphazard sprinting. I need move slowly enough to hear the voice of my Savior and to execute His will. When I speed up my body, I speed up my mind. Then it’s easy to “lean on my own understanding” as Prov. 3:5 puts it.
Once I have that down, action, progress and habit, as Begg writes, will keep me on the right path.
You would be amused perhaps, to hear my wife Jeannette and I talking about walking. We both know it is good exercise. She is content to walk around the block to change the scenery and get that exercise. I’m down with the exercise but prefer to have a destination. We’re walking to X store to buy X product that we desperately need (or perhaps not).
But this week I’ve been reminded of walking as a means, spiritually as well as physically, to get from where I am to where I want to be.
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