You've got to walk right!

Many of you know that I've been debilitated for the past (almost) two months. Yesterday I had a consultation with my doctor regarding the results of my MRI last week. It seems they found some compressed disks in my lower back. So, now I see a specialist and see where that takes me.

I mentioned to Melody the other day that I was getting tired of sitting around so much and wanted to get back to work. She in her wisdom told me, "You've got to walk right first!" OK, I admit it, I have been tending to stumble at times lately and have not had perfect balance with my leg giving away unexpectedly. So, she's right, before I can get on with the things necessary in my life, I've got to walk right.

The same thing is true of our spiritual life isn't it? We stumble around at times unable to walk as we would wish and then are confused by the fact that we don't have a better relationship with God. What do you have to do to learn to "walk right"?

John gives us a little insight into that in 1 John 1:6-7 where he writes: "If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

For me to begin to "walk right," physically I'm going to have to follow the doctor's orders or prescribed treatment. For us to walk right spiritually we are going to have to do the same thing.

The problem I have is that sometimes I'm not a very good patient. The doctor tells me, "Do these exercises, take this medicine, etc.", and I try to do that for the most part, but sometimes I get lazy and don't follow them exactly and because of that sometimes I don't heal as quickly as I should.

Some are the same with spiritual things. God gives us specific directions as to how to walk in this life, how to serve him, yet we get lazy and don't want to follow His will exactly. God reminds His people in the Old Testament of this problem and encourages them to do better in Deuteronomy 5:32-33 where he says through Moses: "So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in obedience to all that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess."

So, if you want to stop stumbling around religiously, trying to walk right spiritually but not doing such a good job of it, then get with the program and be obedient to God, do what He says, even when it's hard and even when you don't want to. Because before you can be successful spiritually you have to walk right.