Program: Your Spiritual Check-up 05

"Hello, I’m Dr. Mark Landis and it’s time for your check up.......your spiritual check-up!"  

Today we need to check your gait.  Your gait is the way that you walk.  Lots of times parents get concerned about their children’s gait and bring them in for a check-up.  Let’s look at your spiritual walk.  There are two main ways to walk.  We can choose to walk in darkness or we can choose to walk in the light.  Walking in the light is best, but there is only one way to be able to do it.  We must follow Jesus and walk the way he walked.

In Jn 8:12, Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

It isn’t pleasant to walk in the dark.  When it’s really dark you can’t see anything.  You’re certain to wind up some place you don’t want to be.  You’re likely to fall into a hole or run into something.  You cannot find your way to heaven if you are walking in spiritual darkness.  The only way to get there is to follow Jesus Christ.  When we follow what he says we can walk in the light. Ro 13:13 says,

Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.

Are you walking the way that you should?  Are you walking in the light?  You can’t say you are walking in the light if you’ve never started doing so in the first place.  The Bible only tells us one way to start and that’s found in Romans 6:4:

Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

If you want to walk in the light, you need to start a new life.  Your new walk begins after baptism which is for the forgiveness of your sins (Acts 2:38).  If you thought you were walking that walk before your baptism, then you obviously didn’t have that baptism for the reason talked about in the Bible.  That means you’re not really walking in newness of life according to God.

After you become a Christian and start your walk it’s important to continue it.  You must walk by faith, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” 2Co 5:7  We also have to walk in love as we are told in Eph 5:2:

2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

A true Christian does not walk in hate, but in love.  Walking in love means we make love a habit.  Love is the way we live our life.  We are not told to have the love of the world that puts ourselves first, but to have the love of Christ that puts others first.  He loved us so much more than Himself, that he was willing to be a sacrifice to God for us.  He gave us his very life.  We should walk in love.  If we love him, we will walk according to his commandments.

This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.  2Jn 1:6

We can’t claim to walk in the light if we are unwilling to follow the commands of Christ.  We must follow His word if we want to be right with Him.  If we are keeping his commandments and following him, then we will have fellowship with one another.  Listen to John 1:6 and 7

6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

If you want the blood of Jesus to keep cleaning you from your sin, you need to be careful how you walk.  If your gait is not what it should be, I hope you’ll change it.  Start walking in a new life and you’ll find it’s a better way.

Thanks for taking this quick spiritual check-up.  If you would like more information and some material to help you in your Bible Study, contact us at Erin Church of Christ.  We’ll be glad to help.  Our address is:  205 East Main St. Erin, TN 37061  Once again, that’s Erin Church of Christ 205 East Main Street, Erin TN 37061. 

You can find this spiritual checkup and much more at our website: www.thelordsway.com/erincoc

I’m Dr. Landis.  Thanks for your visit with me. All quoted scriptures have come from the New King James Version. Don’t forget to keep your next appointment with me for another very important check-up… your spiritual check-up.