Walk Worthy

Eph 4:1 "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called," NKJV

 

In light of all of the stuff that he just wrote about, that our choosing, the truth and the blessings are all God (chapter 1), that we have a new location (chapter 2), and that God wants us to understand the incomprehendable and beyond(chapter 3), because of all of this, Paul, the guy who was sitting in prison because of this faith was beseeching, teaching, exhorting, coming along side to urge these people to walk worthy.

 

I love how God uses words interchangeably. Beseech actually is "paraclete" the same word that is used for the Holy Spirit. Paul was saying that he was coming along side these people to encourage, to challenge, to urge, to spur along. I mean, if ever there was a guy who was qualified to do this it was Paul. The Ephesians all were living in their homes in their city, I am assuming with relative ease. Yet here was Paul, the prisoner of the Lord. Note, he does not say a prisoner of Rome, rather the prisoner of the Lord. He knew that this was God's desire for him. It was probably not what he wanted for his life, but he was content in it because the Lord was in it. So this guy who is very qualified, who had the war wounds of the battle, was challenging these people to walk a certain way.

 

Their walk was the way that they lived. Paul was urging them to walk/live worthy…worthy of the calling with which they were called. Now calling and called are two different words. The first calling means that God drew them into a relationship with Him. This was not something that they did, it was ''all God" (chp 1). And this was not a group thing, this was an individual thing because the second "called" means name by name. To think that God called me by name to be in a relationship with Him is astounding. No wonder Paul said to live worthy. Now this word: "worthy" is something to explore. What does Paul mean when he encourages these people to live in a worthy manner? It means suitably, in a way that gives worth to the calling. These people were personally invited to have a relationship with God. Since this was the case, how in the world would you expect them to live? In a way that honors God...all the time. He is the One who did the work. He is the One who engaged in the action. He is the One who did the calling. He is the One who is worthy of all of their honor.

 

Nothing has changed. God still personally still calls us into a relationship with Him. How should I respond? With a life that gives Him worth. With a life of worth-ship. With a life of worship. All that I do, all that I say, my every motivation should be activities of worship because He called me by name. I need to always remember that.