It’s kind of second nature now . . . this walking thing. I don’t really think much, if at all, about what’s involved in alternating between putting my left foot forward and then my right. Second nature now . . . but wasn’t always. Though I don’t remember it myself, I’ve been around enough toddlers to know that learning to walk takes some practice. It involves watching those feet . . . it requires learning to maintain your balance . . . you start by holding on to stuff . . . and eventually you let go and “solo.” But beyond learning to walk as a young child, I had to learn how to walk again my car accident back in ’77. I had shattered my femur and after way too many weeks on crutches, I eventually had to be taught the finer points of walking again. Sure, I knew the basics . . . but it took a physiotherapist to watch what I was doing and coach me on doing it right, “Remember . . . heel, toe when you’re putting down your right foot.” This all comes to mind because of what I read in the first part of Ephesians 5 this morning.

Here too, Paul talks about walking. Three times he instructs these believers how to walk. The NIV says “live” . . . that’s accurate . . . but I think the other translations do better when they use the word walk. It’s about making one’s way . . . progressing . . . regulating or conducting one’s life. It’s about ordering your steps so that you get from here to there. And whether you’re a new believer . . . or a crusty old veteran . . . whether you’re learning for the first time how to walk . . . or re-learning after having been sidetracked by something . . . or being reminded so that you never forget to “heel toe” . . . it seems to me we benefit from be reminded how to walk.

First, Paul says, “walk in love” . . . the kind of love that Christ loved us with when gave Himself for us as an offering and sacrifice to God (5:2). Jesus loved me to death (literally) . . . even when I was still in darkness . . . still in sin . . . still an enemy (Rom. 5:6, 8, 10). His love was unconditional and unreserved. He loved me so much that He gave Himself fully to atone for my sin and redeem my soul. And I love Him now, because He first loved me (1John 4:19). That’s the kind of love I am to walk with. That’s how I am to order my steps . . . sacrificially caring for others with the heart and mind of Christ.

Then Paul says, “Walk as children of light” (5:8). That’s what I am . . . a child of light . . . once blind, but now I see . . . once in darkness, but now called out of that darkness and into His marvelous light (1Peter 2:9). So, I’m to a walk in that light, having “no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness” (5:11). My walk should look different from those around me who are still in darkness . . . not that it is a walk of superiority or a walk of being “holier-than-thou”, but that it is a walk that marks those who now live for a different kingdom . . . those who march to the beat a different Drummer . . . hearing the drumbeat of heaven and ordering their lives accordingly. To walk in the ways of this world isn’t being true to who I am in Christ. I need to walk as a child of light.

And Paul’s last bit of “walking advice” is about walking carefully: “See then that you walk circumspectly” (5:15). Order your steps “exactly, diligently, accurately.” I’ll never forget how this was illustrated by a preacher years and years ago . . . the idea is that of a cat walking on top of a fence . . . carefully placing each paw in front of the other . . . one misstep resulting in him falling off that narrow beam. Whether we are a newborn in the faith, or have been traveling the highway to heaven for some time, we need to be mindful to walk circumspectly . . . to have our head in the game . . . to watch our step . . . to not become careless where we place our feet. Paul says, “Not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (5:15b-16). This pilgrim road is a narrow road . . . dangers exists on either side . . . and so I need to carefully watch my step . . . not become complacent . . . not play loose with the high-calling of heaven.

Heel, toe . . . heel, toe . . . walk in love . . . walk in light . . . walk in a straight line . . . walk for the glory of God . . . heel, toe . . . heel, toe . . .