by Don Hooton
There’s something illuminating and empowering when you see who you really are. When the prodigal “came to himself,” he “went to his father” to be restored. The NASB says, “he came to his senses” (Luke 15:17). When he saw who he had become he “got up” and “went” to be who he really was – the son of his father. While he came humbly and wanting only to be a servant in his house, his father would give him shoes and the family regalia. But it only happened because the son knew he “had to” be who he was supposed to be.
The letters Paul wrote to Christians equally compel believers to see who they are. Paul said to the Colossians that in Christ they “have been made complete” and in Him, they are “attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding” (2:10,2). As Christians we should see how full, how complete, and how blessed God has made us in Christ. And when we see clearly who we are in Christ, it is Paul who reasons that we then should “walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude” (2:6-7).
If the adage that “fish gotta’ swim and birds gotta’ fly” is right, then it is also true that Christians “gotta’ walk.” Fish swim because that is what they do. Birds fly because that is what birds do. And Christians? They don’t sleep, shuffle or keep a static existence. They walk. Their feet are swift to do good. They busy themselves in their Father’s kingdom. Because, that is what Christians do.
First, as Paul reminds us, we walk this way because we have been “firmly rooted” in Christ (2.7). You see, we are busy with the business of the King because he gave us reason. What Jesus did for us on the cross and in the Resurrection transforms the heart of every believer – who plants it deep. Forgiveness and Hope help us move by empowering us to put one foot in front of the other – even when we feel a burden like no other. Being firmly rooted lifts us from the drudgery of guilt and despair into the path of the abundant life. Jesus us that first step, the vitality that gives us new life (c.f. Romans 6:3-4).
Second, as Paul says, we walk this way because we are being “built up” in Him (2:7). Like a home structured on a solid foundation, this walk as a Christian shows a progression of maturity. We walk because we have laid the foundation and we are growing and even more “established in the faith” (2:7). This “once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) faith is the structural integrity of what we build and the direction of our walk – but if the building halts or slows down, so does the walk. It is a present tense in the Greek and we must keep building if we want to keep walking with Christ. It is an ever growing, progressive increase in religion by union with Him.
So, we need to plant ourselves firmly in the Christ and we need to keep building our life in the Christ’s way. And this walk, or way of living, is described many ways. It begins as a walk “in newness of life” (Romans 6:4) – a brisk beginning to jump start the blood flow. And it is a walk for the inner man and “not according to the flesh” (Romans 8:4). If we walk “by faith and not by sight” (2Corinthians 5:7), we will walk “no longer as Gentiles” (Ephesians 4:17) but as “children of light” (Ephesians 5:8) who follow in the steps of Jesus (1Peter 2:21). That means we will walk “in love” (Ephesians 5:2) and in a “manner worthy of the Lord” (Colossians 1:10). It will be a well purposed lifestyle because people, grounded in Him, and being built up in Him, would want to walk in a way that really is “pleasing God” (1Thessalonians 4:1) and not themselves. That is why we should always aim to be “careful in our walk” (Ephesians 5:15).
You see Christians “gotta’ walk.” It is what we do – because that is who we are.
So, when you think there is nothing to do, get walking. So, when you think you have nothing more to do, get walking. Because without the walk, it’s all talk. And just as sure as fish gotta’ swim, when you have been planted and built up in Christ, you gotta’ walk.