March 15th, 2023
The Upward Look, by Jon Forrest
THE WALK OF FAITH
Have you ever seen a person walk their dog? Some dogs obediently walk beside their master. They don’t even need a leash. When the master stops… they stop. When the master turns left, they turn left, or if the master turns right, they turn right.
But other dogs are different. You couldn’t get them to stay with you for anything. They need a leash… but they’re always wrapping the leash around a tree or someone else’s legs. And they’re always pulling and tugging you in directions you don’t want to go. You’ve seen the people who looked like the dog was walking them. They don’t care where you’re going because that’s not always the way they want to go.
If you’re going to walk with God, you have to agree to go where He goes.
One of the most impressive people in the Bible is Enoch. Genesis 5 tells about this man who lived 365 years and was the father of Methuselah, the oldest man in the Bible. Verse 24 of that chapter tells us that Enoch never died and why, “Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.”
A Sunday School teacher asked her first graders how it was that Enoch never died. One little girl said, “Enoch and God used to go on long walks together and one day God told Enoch, ‘We are a lot closer to my house than yours and it’s late. Why don’t you just come on home with me?’”
Hebrews 11:5 tells us more, By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.
So what was so special about the way Enoch walked with God? The writer of Hebrews tells us in the next verse, And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Enoch pleased God because of his faith. His faith was the way he walked with God. When we walk with the Lord it is only by faith that we can travel that road. When we lose faith, we waver from the path and walk our own way. When we lose our faith, we begin to pull against the leash and get out of sync with our leader. We get rebellious and run away. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, For we live by faith, not by sight. Some versions use the word “walk” in place of “live.” You see, how we walk is how we live.
As we have been journeying toward Resurrection (Easter) Sunday, we have been following a series titled IN HIS STEPS. This Sunday’s message will be Learning to Walk with the Lord, based on Psalm 23:4 and other passages. Wouldn’t it be really cool if we could learn to walk with the Lord the same way Enoch did it?
Join us Sunday as we continue this walk IN HIS STEPS,
Learning with you,
Jon
THE WALK OF FAITH
Have you ever seen a person walk their dog? Some dogs obediently walk beside their master. They don’t even need a leash. When the master stops… they stop. When the master turns left, they turn left, or if the master turns right, they turn right.
But other dogs are different. You couldn’t get them to stay with you for anything. They need a leash… but they’re always wrapping the leash around a tree or someone else’s legs. And they’re always pulling and tugging you in directions you don’t want to go. You’ve seen the people who looked like the dog was walking them. They don’t care where you’re going because that’s not always the way they want to go.
If you’re going to walk with God, you have to agree to go where He goes.
One of the most impressive people in the Bible is Enoch. Genesis 5 tells about this man who lived 365 years and was the father of Methuselah, the oldest man in the Bible. Verse 24 of that chapter tells us that Enoch never died and why, “Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.”
A Sunday School teacher asked her first graders how it was that Enoch never died. One little girl said, “Enoch and God used to go on long walks together and one day God told Enoch, ‘We are a lot closer to my house than yours and it’s late. Why don’t you just come on home with me?’”
Hebrews 11:5 tells us more, By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.
So what was so special about the way Enoch walked with God? The writer of Hebrews tells us in the next verse, And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Enoch pleased God because of his faith. His faith was the way he walked with God. When we walk with the Lord it is only by faith that we can travel that road. When we lose faith, we waver from the path and walk our own way. When we lose our faith, we begin to pull against the leash and get out of sync with our leader. We get rebellious and run away. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, For we live by faith, not by sight. Some versions use the word “walk” in place of “live.” You see, how we walk is how we live.
As we have been journeying toward Resurrection (Easter) Sunday, we have been following a series titled IN HIS STEPS. This Sunday’s message will be Learning to Walk with the Lord, based on Psalm 23:4 and other passages. Wouldn’t it be really cool if we could learn to walk with the Lord the same way Enoch did it?
Join us Sunday as we continue this walk IN HIS STEPS,
Learning with you,
Jon
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