9 Reasons to Walk With God
Winter 2023
I remember many years ago reading The Christian’s Daily Walk by Henry Scudder. Recently the book came back to my mind, so I dusted it off and started reading it again. At the beginning of the book, Scudder outlines nine reasons why you should walk with God. I have rephrased some of his reasons and slightly modernized the language. I hope you find them helpful.
1. You are commanded to walk as Christ walked.
1 John 2:6 tells us that we are to walk the same way that Christ walked. It is obvious from the ministry of Christ that He walked with God. His speech was saturated with Scripture and His quiet moments were spent in prayer or communication with the Father. His life was a mission to do the Father’s will. How can the head go one way and the body go another? If we are abiding in Christ, as 1 John 2:6 says, then we must walk with Him. He is the head, and we are part of the body. Something has gone terribly wrong if your head is going one way and your body is going another.
2. It is the sum and substance of what God requires of the believer.
We will look at the commandments of God in a later point, but suffice it to say, God has been straightforward with us about what He requires. Micah 6:8 is one verse that summarizes those requirements. We are told that the Lord requires us to “walk humbly with thy God.” This verse explains the summary of the Ten Commandments in different terms. To “do justly and to love mercy” is an explanation of “love thy neighbor as thyself,” and “walk humbly with thy God” is an example of “love God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength.”
3. If you walk with God, you will be sure of going the right way.
There is only one way that God has prescribed for your salvation. To walk with God is to follow the old path that Christians have walked from the beginning (Jeremiah 6:16). Sometimes the way may seem uncertain, but as you walk with the Lord, you will know the Lord’s guidance (Isaiah 30:21). The advertising slogan for Chevrolet trucks is “Find new roads.” The Christian is not looking for “new roads.” One of the biggest problems in the church today is that many church leaders are looking for new roads. In their quest, some have forsaken the old paths of faithfulness to the gospel. Sadly, in an attempt to change the method, they have simultaneously changed the message. They are no longer going in the right way.
4. It is the safest path because the Lord is with you on it.
In Proverbs 3:21-26, Solomon instructs his son to find wisdom and to get understanding. He explains that having them will guide him to a path of safety and keep him from fear. When you walk with God, you are walking with the One who is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. He is able to protect you from all harm. In Pilgrim’s Progress, when Christian was faced with lions on the edge of the pathway, he was directed to stay in the middle of the road and not depart to the right hand or the left. Staying in the center of the road with the Lord in view was the path of safety. It was the safest path in the allegory, and it is still the safest path in real life.
5. While maybe sometimes a lonely path, it is the path with the best company because it is the path with God.
Robert Frost wrote about two paths that diverged in a yellow wood. In the conclusion of his poem, he says that he “took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” Sometimes in life, we are confused as to which way we should go. If we are faithfully walking with God, then we can be sure that we are going in the right way. It might be that only a few walk with you, but you can be confident of the Lord’s presence if you are walking with Him.
6. It is the best distraction from sin to walk with God always in your view.
One of the foundations of walking with God is the fear of the Lord. It is to live in the constant awareness of God and His presence with you. Consider Joseph. Although Potiphar’s wife thought they were all alone, Joseph lived in such a way that he knew God’s presence with him. When tempted to sin, Joseph said, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Genesis 39:9. Do you walk with God in such a way that when you are alone you know that you are not alone? You do things in private that you would not do if any other human being was with you. The whole time, God sees and knows all. Living with that awareness helps to prevent sin.
7. It is the best motivation to obedience to walk with God always in your view.
The same line of reasoning carries over to this point as well. Knowing God’s presence not only helps to prevent sin, but it also motivates to obedience. The Christian life is not just a list of “thou shalt nots.” There are things that you should be doing as well. For example, walking with God is the remedy for slothfulness. Consider what Christ says about the faithful servant in Matthew 24:36-51. The one who is faithful is diligent in his work even when the master is gone. He is not working to please himself or any other man. He is laboring for the master because the master is always in his view.
8. It is the way that pleases God and all of God’s people who walk with Him.
Remember Enoch? He was a man who pleased God because he walked with God. Walking with God is the path of all God’s faithful servants. Walking with God joins you with the great cloud of witnesses from the past. You become aligned with all those who are walking with God, and you bring them joy. The Apostle John said, “For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth” (3 John 3-4).
9. You are assured of God’s mercy and gracious favor.
If you are not walking with God, but are not in hell, God is being merciful and gracious to you. He gives you the life you have now. You cannot presume on that mercy and grace. The only way you can be confident that you will be a lasting and eternal recipient of the mercy and grace of God is to walk with God. You must be born again. 1 John 1:7 speaks of the cleansing from sin that we have when we walk with the Lord. We are not condemned when we are in Christ and walk in the Spirit.
Conclusion
Sadly, few walk this way. Many walk in the vanity of their own minds (Ephesians 4:17). They walk following “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). Paul reminds us that this is the way that we all walked before our conversion (Ephesians 2:2-3). If you are walking with God, rejoice that the Lord has done a work of grace in your heart. If you are not walking with Him, why not? Why not start today?