Walking in Unity
Ephesians 4:1-3In the book of Ephesians, Paul writes about the believer’s position and practice. The first three chapters of Ephesians speak of the believer’s position and the last three chapters speak of the believer’s practice. Both are required to be understood to walk in obedience to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I want to share with you about walking in unity, Ephesians 4:1-3.
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
In verse 1, we are told how important it is to “walk in a manner worthy of our calling.” Paul is imploring us to live our lives in a manner that illustrates our obedience to the Word of God. Our daily walk “manner of living” should mimic that of Christ and correspond to our position as children of God. Walking worthy means that we are to balance our behavior with our position. God has “adopted us as sons through Jesus Christ in Himself” and we should live as someone who has been adopted by God’s great mercy.
We are also to walk in “all humility.” Humility is one of the key foundations of Christian living. Humility must permeate our lives and influence all we do. The word means to think or judge with lowliness and to have lowliness of mind. In Romans 12:3 we are reminded to not think more highly of ourselves but to think of ourselves with sound judgment based on the measure of faith God has given us. Paul, in Philippians 2:7-8, reminds us of how Christ humbled Himself even to death on the cross. He is our example.
When we are walking in a manner worthy of our calling, and in humility, we are to do so with gentleness and patience. Meekness and forbearance are some of the signs of a person who is humble. Many in our culture view meekness as a sign of weakness, someone who is a pushover, or lacks courage. This is not true of a Christian; this word means to be mild-spirited or self-controlled. King David was a great example of this type of inner spirit when he refused to kill Saul even though he had the opportunity. We should forbear in God’s love based on His graciousness and kindness toward us to achieve unity.
Lastly, we are to work “diligently” to preserve unity. This is not talking about ecumenical unity among different religions. This speaks of inner unity and unity within the body of Christ. We as Christians are to strive to be unified with other followers of Christ. We are to wrap ourselves in the “bond of peace” to glorify God in attitude and practice. Peaceful unity can be achieved by exegetically (the process of discovering the original and intended meaning of a passage of scripture) studying and meditating on the Word of God and applying the precepts of His Word. I pray your Christian walk will be with humility, patience, unity, and gentleness.
Rodney