The Pilgrim Journey

Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, so as to be fully pleasing, in every good work bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of God.
Colossians 1:10

I love the phraseology of Paul. He paints such great pictures with his words. Today we hear him tell us to walk. Walking has the idea that we are in continuous motion. We are on pilgrimage. We have a destination and we are traveling there. It refers to our continuous lifestyle. Our faith is about how we live day be day. It is not a conglomeration of "experiences". We may feel things in a dramatic fashion from time to time. But these are not really the defining moments of our lives. It is how we live in the press of day to day living that truly determines who we are.

We are told not only to walk, but to walk in manner worthy of the Lord. Christ came to live the perfect life as well as die the redeeming death. As His disciples, we are to embrace His example as much as His teaching. It is the life of Christ that is to be lived out through us. Therefore, if we are to walk in a manner worthy of our Lord we must imitate His example. In this way we will be fully pleasing to Him.

Our lives are called to bear fruit; not necessarily the fruit of conversions, but rather the fruit of good works. These good works serve to glorify God. They demonstrate His presence in our lives and testify to the world around us of the life that we are called to live.

We are called to grow in the knowledge of our Lord. Our God yearns to be known. He is not hidden, as He seems. Rather, He is constantly revealing Himself to those who have eyes of faith and ears to hear what the Spirit is saying. We who know Him are not to content ourselves with that fact, but rather we are to hunger to know Him more. For He hungers to know us more. It is not that He doesn't already know everything about us. He does. But that is trivial. He wants to know us in the depths of our hearts. This requires that we open our hearts to Him. Then He will come to know us and we will come to know Him.

This phrase is part of a longer one in which St. Paul informs the Colossian Church of his continuous prayers on their behalf. What a wonderful thing to pray: that they will continue to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and grow in the knowledge of Him. May we follow his example in living this life and praying for others to join us.