“My goodness, you walk your dog a lot!” My neighbour was walking his black Labrador for the third or fourth time that day.
“It’s a good way to get my steps in,” he explained.
“Getting my steps in” seems to be the current exercise craze. People point to their fitness tracker or an app on the phone and proudly tell others how many steps that they’ve already done that day and how many more that they need in order to reach their daily goal.
That encounter reminded me of the classic novel, In His Steps, by Charles Sheldon. Published in 1896, it described the actions of a small-town Kansas church after they were challenged by the pastor to ask themselves, “What would Jesus do?” for an entire year and act only as they believe Jesus would have them act. Many lives were changed as the congregation accepted the challenge. Eventually, it spread to other churches and towns, and almost a hundred years later, became the inspiration for the WWJD movement in the 1990s.
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.”
(Ephesians 5:1-2,8-10 ESV)
“And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.”
(James 1:18b NLT)
While our earthly fathers may or may not have treated us as beloved children, God sees each one of us as someone He loves deeply and dearly, so much so that He sacrificed His Son to save us from our sins. Because of that sacrifice, we no longer live in darkness, but we are children of light. Therefore, we should walk — in His steps — not in darkness, but in the full light of His love. As we go about our day, we don’t need a fitness tracker or an app on our phone to keep track of this, but we do need to focus on Christ’s monumental sacrifice and God’s amazing love for us. Just think — He calls us His prized possession! We need to monitor our thoughts, our actions, and our emotions: is everything that we are doing pleasing to Him and modelling our position as children of light? That’s much more important than counting our physical steps each day.
Prayer: Father, some of us put far more effort into monitoring our physical behaviour than into monitoring our spiritual behaviour. Help us to walk as children of light, following in Your steps as we go about our day. Are we being pleasing to You and modelling behaviour for others? Amen.
Copyright © 2022, by Sharon Cook <craftercook@gmail.com>, first published on the PresbyCan Daily Devotional presbycan.ca .
Apache Junction, Arizona, USA
Reprinted from PresbyCan with author’s permission