"I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called," Ephesians 4:1 NAS
My junior year of high school, I worked afternoons in the elementary school library. Every first, second, and third grader visited the library twice a week, so they all got to know me.
I didn't have my driver's license yet, and the buses were loud and crowded, so I put miles on my high-top Reeboks. (Hey, it was 1990.) Every morning I walked several blocks to school. At noon I walked to the mini mart for lunch before walking to the elementary school for work, and walked back to the high school to catch a bus home.
A few weeks into the school year, children in the library started running up to me saying, "I saw you walking!" Before long, everywhere I went boys and girls would wave at me and say, "I saw you walking!"
I had always tried to "walk" as Jesus did (1 John 2:6) but those grade schoolers made me acutely aware of how closely our walk is observed even when we don't know we're being watched.
Years later, when my world was all babies and toddlers (and messes!), I often wondered whether it really mattered if I read my Bible that day. It's not as if a Psalm would protect me from being peed on! But I knew my little ones were watching my walk, and I if intended to bring them up in the Word, my example was important.
"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:16 NAS
Your family, your students, your neighbors, see you walking. Your walk is significant. Your light is a beacon for those in the darkness, and your fight is an encouragement to the soldiers around you.
