AfterWords: "Walking...with Purpose"

 

From Ephesians 2:1-10

In Paul’s relatively brief letter to the Ephesians, he mentions ‘walking’ at least eight times. As we read this week’s passage, we come upon two of his mentions—how we do not want to walk and how we do want to walk.

Paul begins by reminding his readers that before we came to Jesus, we walked in “sin.” The word Paul uses here for sin is the Greek word hamartia – a term often associated with archery that means to miss the mark. We walked, yes, but we did not get where we were going. We walked as we often do--in circles or we meandered aimlessly…without real purpose. In our 21^st Century world, we often find ourselves sucked into that circular walk of consumerism. Others walk forward passionately without a clear destination in mind. No matter what it is that occupies our walks, it is not the walk that God calls us to—we miss the mark.

Ephesians 2:8 is probably one of the best-known verses in the New Testament: “For by grace you have been saved through faith….” God’s grace—the undeserved, unearnable agape love and favor of God towards us—is the very thing that saves us from an aimless or circular walk. As Paul indicates, we must respond to that grace—and that response comes through faith. God uses that moment of response to save from the chaos of our lives, to shine His light into our lives, pour out peace into the craziness of our worlds…and to start us walking in the right direction.

At that moment we respond in faith, we are remade. Ephesians 2:10 tells us clearly that “…we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Everyone who responds in faith is given a clear purpose: We are to do “good works.” We are to do good, to shine light in the darkness, to bring peace to others.

Too often, people think they do good to earn God’s favor, to get God’s attention. No. We have already received God’s favor, God’s grace, and we have responded in faith. Now, we spend our lives doing good in every way we can. We live our lives doing good—in our homes, in our schools, in our businesses, in the park, in the grocery store…everywhere! We do good. And, if anyone asks why, the answer is simple: “Because God has been good to me.”

Perhaps this call to do good, this basic purpose in our lives, led John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, to encourage us  to “Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.” Amen.

Sunday, August 11, 2024
“Walking…with Purpose”
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