July 25, 2018
Continued from July 18, 2018
While every individual born into this world is pre-planned to walk with God, not all will do so. Pre-planned used in this context means that God walks with all who experience regeneration by placing their faith in Jesus Christ and surrender to His Lordship.
The butterfly provides an excellent illustration from nature of how pre-planning works. Every butterfly egg deposited on a leaf or blade of grass is destined to become a full-grown butterfly. But experience proves that only about three in 100 eggs will develop into a butterfly. While the egg has all the potential to become a butterfly at a point in the future, there are a lot of hazards along the way. Insects eat the egg; weather conditions can affect the development, birds, lizards, and other predators can eat the caterpillar and humans can destroy the insect at any step along the way to name a few dangers. But, that doesn’t change the “pre-planned” destination for the butterfly.
The same principle is valid for mankind. Every individual who comes into this world has a targeted goal, a walk with God. But, like caterpillars, not all people reach this stage. Many obstacles stand between where an individual starts and their destination. But, that doesn’t change the pre-planned goal: to walk with God—to fellowship with Him and to live humbly in His presence.
God spoke, through the Old Testament prophet Micah, and commands that we do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Matthew in his Gospel writes that Jesus explained “to humbly walk with God.” is to live in such a way that others “may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in Heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
Many Christians misunderstand their real-life goal. They think it lies somewhere between being “good” and committing to serve on a foreign missionary field. In reality, a Believer’s Spiritual goal is to walk with God. When a person realizes this, they must pursue the target with a singleness of mind. Paul exhibited this when he said, “Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14).
EXAMPLES OF PEOPLE WHO WALKED WITH GOD
You may be surprised to discover that of all the people mentioned in the Bible, only three—Enoch, Noah, and Levi— are explicitly said to have walked with God. Genesis chapters 5 and 6 and Malachi 2 contain the account of these three men’s walk with God.
Studying the lives of these three individuals reveals clues as to how they lived a lifestyle that was pleasing to God. If you desire to walk with God, you need to observe the behavior of Enoch, Noah, and Levi that enabled them to fellowship with and walk humbly with their Creator and Friend.
Next week: ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD