Walking with God-What does it look like?

[Connect]

Hello all,

I have a question that I’ve been wondering about for a while and wanted to ask you all. From your personal experience, can you tell me what, in your life or the life of a loved one close to you, what happens when you/he/she are “walking closely with God”? I mean, what does it look like for you and them? In other words, if I met you or them on the street and you were "walking closely with God" what would I observe? What is happening internally and externally? What would I see in your actions? Behaviors? Relationships? Conduct? More prayer? Fasting? Fellowship? Etc. Please do not limit you answers those above but add anything that you can note from your own experiences. Thank you all for your thoughts.

Connections

 

[heymikey80]

A walk with Christ. Such a tough thing to say, we know we're not perfect at it, and fail often.

But 1 John says it directly, that you can consider people as Christians who walk with him. What's that? Primarily for John, it's showing love (self-sacrificing care) for your brother, coming from the heart. It means you give not out simply of your excess, but to meet the need of a hurting brother. If it's money, then money. If it's time, you hang out. If it's work, you bear loads. If it's anxiousness about an exam, you help him study. If it's conflict, you seek to resolve it. If it's the need to talk, you listen. If it's the need for communion, you connect on deep truths.

Is it more of something religious? It depends what you mean. Agreeing with God about your sin ("confession", 1 John 1:8-10) comes to mind. Doing what Christ commands (1 John 2:3) comes to mind. I think that to agree with God you have to talk with Him, in prayer, meditate on what He has said to see how it fits in your life (how can you agree if you can't see the Scriptures as relevant?). It can make sense to fast to benefit others by your want; also to place yourself into the need for more insight into His words.

And when many people come together in their walks with Christ there's way more fellowship.

 

[Connect]

Hey HeyMikey80,

Thank you for your thoughts. Sorry for the delay in returning your post. I missed it. So you are saying that there are things that we can do to walk closer with God.

Now that we have established that there are some behaviors that assist us in walking closely with God, I'm wondering how much is dependant on our motives/attitudes/behaviors that actually contribute to a good walk with God? Any ideas would be welcome.

Connect

 

[bradfordl]

So you are saying that there are things that we can do to walk closer with God.

Hmmmmm? Are these behaviors an effort to walk close with God, or are they the result of walking close with God? I guess most reformed folks would say the way to walk closer is to partake of the means of grace, sometimes described as the Word, prayer, and sacraments, and some add fellowship.

As for what it would look like, you might be able to see it in others, such as the fruit of the spirit, but I doubt you'd be able to see it in yourself to clearly. From my experience, the longer you walk with God, the more clearly you see your own depravity than the improvements wrought by the Spirit in you. But a clearer view of your sin brings much greater gratitude for the improvements you do see.

 

[heymikey80]

Hey HeyMikey80,

Thank you for your thoughts. Sorry for the delay in returning your post. I missed it. So you are saying that there are things that we can do to walk closer with God.

Um. Hm. Let me offer an illustration, maybe it'll help you with this.

You're walking alone in the dark. You can barely see five feet in front of you. You don't know how close you are to anything, and you seem to be stumbling into trees and roots and shrubs as you proceed through the forest.

What do you need?

You need a light -- something that'll allow you to be aware of what's close by, what's far away.

So you haul out the flashlight.

What you're doing is very close to what I think about when I talk about a walk with God. It's not something to bring you closer -- it's something to make you aware how close you are; to keep you from mistaking how close or far God is from you.

How close you are to God is more an issue of that. How close God comes to you, that's more a question He can answer -- he's a gracious God, and He will come near to those who seek Him.

Now that we have established that there are some behaviors that assist us in walking closely with God, I'm wondering how much is dependant on our motives/attitudes/behaviors that actually contribute to a good walk with God? Any ideas would be welcome.

Your motives, attitudes and behaviors help you see more clearly, definitely.

 

[grl4christ17]

look no ones perfect it's ok we all need chrust especilally me

 

[heymikey80]

Yes, it is definitely a subtle distinction. There's nothing heretical that'll kill you to think about it another way -- not on its own at least.

It reminds me of a friend of mine who had learned about atomic fusion in elementary school. He tried to describe it to us during show & tell: subatomic particles whizzing around and combining, giving off energy in the form of light and gamma rays and everything else.

To me it simply assured me of this paradox in my life at the time: nobody needs to fuel the sun, yet it comes up & shines every day.

Both were true. One seemed like a paradox, but wasn't. The other explained why, but wouldn't come up in elementary school!

 

[Connect]

Thanks for your thoughts Mike. I'll have to continue this when I have more time.

Thanks again