Walking Worthy on the King’s Highway.
A career in the military of a nation demands that an applicant meets certain basic requirements, one of which is being a citizen of the country. A candidate is obligated before admission to take an oath of allegiance to the Constitution of the country.
Discipline is a critical hallmark, ensuring efficiency in the architecture of the armed forces. Military discipline imposes upon the officers and other ranks a certain code of conduct while the level of discipline directly affects every aspect of military life.
Overall, the primary duty of a military officer is to defend the territorial boundaries of the nation and uphold its integrity.
Like the military, the Christian life is a life of purpose and discipline. As Christians, we raise our children to imbibe a culture of Christ-like discipline — of obedience and good behavior as we give them an education and prepare them for challenges in the world.
This is why in addition to secular education, our children are taught Christian principles at Sunday School. Christian education is a life-long exercise for growth and spiritual maturity of Christians of all ages. The spiritual discipline of daily devotion, weekly Bible study and prayers, equip Christians to stay focused and stand up to the onslaught of Satan and his cohorts.
In Christ, we are taught to live a life of purpose and significance, impacting our world positively, fulfilling our eternal destiny.
Understanding Deconstruction:
One is disturbed but not surprised by the ongoing attack of the Bible, the Church, and the Christian faith by people who suddenly discovered a new tool for analyzing their faith and the church.
Pastors and former active members of the church are renouncing faith, and turning their back on Christianity, giving different reasons and justifying their action, under what they term, “deconstruction.” Some base their action on their experiences in their local churches — where they grew up in Sunday School and under the teachings of leaders they are now denigrating.
I am in the vanguard of church purification advocacy. But I am aware that no church or human organisation is perfect — as long as they are being administered by humans who are imperfect. This awareness should motivate us to be proactive — self-examining our methods, sharpening our focus, expanding our fields, and be more effective in fulfilling the Great Commission.
I have made efforts towards understanding deconstruction, trying to come to terms with the position of deconstructionists; So far, I have come across different definitions of the term. It has been defined as an analysis method — deconstructing an idea, themes, and words in relation to their meaning. It is adjudged as being particularly dangerous to Christianity. According to a writer on medium, its systemic analysis of Christianity would “lead no one to remain a Christian.”
Can that be the goal of proponents of deconstruction? They are currently trying to recruit disciples from among believers in Christ. Where do we go from here? How do we handle this surreptitious move to undo all that Christianity stands for over the centuries? Sure the church has survived the vicissitudes of centuries of enemy’s onslaught on the body of Christ. Are we seeing another manifestation of end time “falling away” heralding the imminent return of Christ?
To deconstruct in simple terms, is for me, to undo what is done, and to dismantle the structure that is in place. From my layman perspective and the activities of deconstructionists, it seems clear that the goal is to dismantle Christianity and the Church of Christ.
It is certainly not about building; it is about pulling down!
Walking Worthy!
We are called to beware of distractors and detractors — to walk worthy of our calling. To stay focussed!
Walking worthy means walking according to standards. It means walking within the path laid out by Christ. Jesus warned us about the nature of the road we are to walk in. It is a narrow road — the King’s highway that gives no room for extra baggage. (Matt. 7:13–14)
In Ephesians 4: 1–6, Apostle Paul admonished Ephesian Christians to “walk worthy of the calling you have received.” He did not stop there but went ahead to show them what walking worthy means:
“Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love . Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and the Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
Those words are outside the purview of deconstructionist analyses. They are in the spiritual realm. Christianity is built on FAITH not on sight and human logic— It is built on the atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus the Christ, on the cross.
I do not see how one can profess to be Christian without faith. God cannot be confined to our ‘idiot box’ called intellect. It is about revelation not semantics!
Clearly these words are not in the vocabulary of deconstructionists; So they never gave them serious consideration.
Let’s on our part reflect on what each of these words mean to us today, and see whether we too are walking worthy by apostle Paul’s standard.
Check them out: humble and gentle, patience, bearing with one another, love, unity of the Spirit, bond of peace.
Do pardon me, they sound alien to our modern-day Christian culture. We do not know what they mean in practical terms.
We probably need to take another look at each of them relative to our lifestyles as Christians and members of our local assemblies. We may find out that our misinterpretations and misrepresentation of their meaning is largely responsible for the urge to deconstruct.
What, to be sure, does it mean for you to walk worthy of the calling you have received as a Christian in our culture?
In a nutshell, the Christian who walks worthy of his calling is one whose daily living corresponds to his blessed position as a child of God and fellow heir with Jesus Christ. His understanding of who he is, motivates him to live a life of purpose and discipline in his world and in whatever field of profession he finds himself.
We cannot afford to ignore our calling — pandering to men’s praise and approval.
Apostle Paul was in chains because he stayed focused on his calling by living in ways that ran counter to accepted norms and religious traditions of his day. Many Christians shy away when it comes to suffering for our faith.
We fall easy victim of prevailing anti-Christian traditions. We tend to close our eyes to evils perpetrated by people around us whose lives are governed by primordial agitations. We value man’s praise more than honoring our calling to be separated from the world as God’s special possessions (1 Peter 2:9).
Walking worthy is counter-cultural. The Christian must be prepared once in a while to suffer deprivation and persecution. In fulfilling his calling to preach the gospel, Paul endured great dangers, persecutions and hardships (1 Cor. 4:9–13; 2 Cor.1:8–9, 6:4–10).
He chose to see these as “light and momentary troubles achieving an eternal glory” (2 Cor. 4:17).
Sure, it is a difficult choice to make, but it is a choice worthy of the sacrifice. The Father’s grace is sufficient for any Christian who chooses to walk the walk (2 Corinth. 12:9).
The Christian must draw a line between what constitute achievements in the here and now, and achievement in the heavenly realm of afterlife. Your destiny as a Christian is not of this world. Your destiny is life eternal.
Scripture says:
“Therefore whoever wishes to be friend of the world becomes an enemy of God…You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is the enemy of God?“ (James 4:4).
Yes! You and I can walk worthy of our calling on the King’s Highway.
Let’s go!
