Our worthy walk in grace

"But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.  You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12 (NASB)

The letters to the Thessalonians were written by Paul, Silvanus (Silas), and Timothy, and the pronoun we is always used in the letters. The gospel of God’s grace is a “we” gospel, and one of the components of this wonderful grace that God extends to us is the way God uses us to exhort each other. None of us stand alone in God’s grace.

This is why our walk with God is so important. As Paul, Silas and Timothy write in the scripture passage above, an important part of their ministry was to work alongside the Thessalonians so they (the Thessalonians) could witness God’s grace through Paul, Silas and Timothy’s actions and their love for the members of this Thessalonian church.

God uses our walks to exhort each other, stand by each other, work with each other, and love each other. It is not our walk that is worthy of God, but our walk with a worthy God that witnesses to others.

I like the word walk because it implies a journey, and we can infer that journeys are not without hardships, errors, misdirection, detours, and stumbling. In spite of this, God still continues to call us to Himself, and by His miraculous grace, He allows us to reach Him, even if our journey is not perfect. Walking worthy of God does not mean that we must walk in perfection. It means that we allow God to use our walk to minister to others who are on the same journey.