“Walk worthy of the vocation…”

Because of everything Paul tells us in chapters 1-3, we are to walk worthy of our calling in Christ, the calling of adoption and unity.

“Wait!” you say. What is that? You don’t feel you have a calling, a vocation as you are chronically ill, disabled, home-bound? You know others do, but you can’t leave the house except for medical appointments.

Oh, friend, I have good news! Chapters 1-3 apply to you!

You do have a vocation (calling) and need to walk worthy of that calling. Ephesians 4:2-3 tells us how we can walk worthy and gives practical advice. Let’s take a look.

² With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; ³ Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Lowliness and meekness makes me think of humility. Remember, this is not weakness, but dying to self and putting others first. Just as the church at Ephesus was having to learn to put others first as they from different cultures came to be one church following Christ rather than tradition, we can put others first even as we live in isolation. Family members, helpers, medical staff, delivery people, and others may be our calling. We can treat them with kindness and humility to show them Christ. They will see a difference in our attitude.

Given our situations, it is easy to get frustrated when others don’t understand or treat us with respect. How can we be patient with them, maybe even family members, when they don’t understand our pain or don’t acknowledge our pain. Our caling is to be longsuffering (patient) with them and forbear (bear with them) in love.

This part of the verse stood out to me. Just as the Jews and Gentiles were coming together in unity, disabled and abled can as well, but it takes longsuffering and forbearance. Something that I have learned over the years is that those who are serving us also have their own set of stresses and challenges. It is easy to think that their lives are so easy because they don’t have our challenges. The reality is that they are facing things daily that we can’t imagine. Be patient and kind. Put others first. 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter, gives great input into what this looks like. How would this change our interactions with our brothers and sisters in Christ if we began to see that we have a calling to walk worthy of and put these things into practice?

We can walk worthy! We do have a calling! Tomorrow, we will continue with verse 3 as we look at how we can do that. See you then!