The Secret of the Christian Walk
by pamela spurling
Women often ask: what is the secret to the Christian walk?
Many
study, many pray, many attempt to change... knowing they want to live
holy, obedient to the LORD, but still the mystery eludes them: the
secret to the Christian walk.
Well, I will tell you the secret... and you will instantly recognize
the truth I will share... you likely will know what it is and upon
reading it, you will say something like, "I already knew that!" And,
you do already know it.
I tell you from time to time how it amazes me the number of studies we
will attend and how many books we will read, searching for the latest
way to be a godly woman, a good wife, a good mother or homemaker... we
search and we search... it seems all the while we are searching, we
have no intention of actually applying what we are studying, we just
want to keep gathering.
2 Timothy 3.5-7
'Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:
from
such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses,
and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers
lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the
truth.'
In this sense, we are like hunters who go out hunting, see the target,
take aim, shoot, and hit the target...and then, as if pleased by the
accomplishment, run back home to share with the others what was found,
how wonderful it was, and how satisfying it was to hit the target...
but you know and I know that the shear thought of leaving the
nourishing food behind is foolishness. Hunters know the thrill of the
kill carries some degree of satisfaction, but it is the eating and
then the sustaining nourishment---the filling of the hunger, that is
the reward.
And so it must be with us... we will never know the secret of the
Christian walk if we continue to seek and find the truth and yet never
take hold of it, take it home and eat it! If we continue year after
year to enroll in this study and then that study, then what
foolishness it will be to us if we never buy the truth and sell it
not. We are then become like silly women who are carried away... ever
learning and never able to come to knowledge of the truth.
Another thought comes to me over and over...it's a very common
experience---and an accepted pastime: it is as if we are so accustomed
to having catalogues in our homes, and so used to the experience of
oo-ing and ahh-ing over the pages, presupposing that we will never be
able to actually own the items over which we are drooling, that we no
longer see this as lust, nor see ourselves getting carried away. We
never see it as lust, the wanting of things we can't rightly have, we
see it as "gathering ideas."
We are the same way with window shopping. We plan excursions, even
whole day outings to go window shopping and browsing. We take very
little or no money, never intending to buy, only to look. In every
shop we are asked the same question to which we reply every time:
"...just looking, thanks." Isn't that the way we are with our Bible
studies and women's classes, sometimes? We know we long for the
answers... we even pay for the information, but much like our window
shopping, when it comes to buying the truth and selling it not, we are
just experienced window-shoppers. By the way, lest you think I never
do this, you should know that from time to time I enjoy looking in
shops---but when this practice causes dissatisfaction or is a source
of bitterness over our supposed lack, then it's become an unhealthy,
even dangerous activity. I am very careful how and when and where I
go browsing. From experience I tell you it can be a very unsatisfying
activity when engaged in at the wrong time. When browsing is done as
a "date" or visiting with a friend, the results can be very
refreshing.
What are window shoppers doing anyway? Aren't they all just looking
for the best deal, the best sale, the best bargain with no intent to
buy? Is there any real need fulfilled when one is window shopping?
The need remains, because the method of filling that need is
unsatisfying... the shopper comes home emptier than when she first set
out... because this time she has seen what she has wanted, she has
touched it, tasted it, and handled it... but, like the hunter without
the catch in the bag, she hasn't brought home those things she longs
for. And so it is with Bible studies, or women's studies...when they
are not brought home, when they have not been taken in and haven't
filled the mind, the emotions, and the will, they are the elusive
truths that are only dreamed of and never realized. Women have seen
practical applications of Biblical truths, they have experienced the
richness of fellowship, have heard rich, life changing truths---
2 Timothy 4.3-4
"For the time will come when they will not endure
sound
doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves
teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears
from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."
So what is the secret of the Christian walk?
It's the walk. That's it.
Now you know the secret of the Christian walk. It is simply
the walk.
Take in what you have caught... eat it, let it become a part of you,
let the evidence of your eating be known by all who see you, all who
spend time with you... let your light so shine before men that they
may see your good works and praise your Father which is in Heaven.
The secret of the Christian walk is in the walk. Pssst: pass it on.
pamela spurling ~ The Welcome Home ~ 2001
