Walk Worthy of Your Calling

“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love.” Eph. 4:1-2.

Paul wrote this from his imprisonment in Rome. We can imagine that the treatment he received there was not always so kind and pleasant, but Paul was able to respond with gentleness and longsuffering and love. What enabled him to do this was all lowliness! It is impossible to react like this to unpleasant and unreasonable treatment if there is the least bit of pride in my heart. And it is precisely in such circumstances that the pride in my flesh quickly rises up. But this gives me the opportunity to put it to death, by humbling myself even deeper, so that I can lay hold of even more of eternal life, gentleness, longsuffering and love. It is possible to bear unreasonable treatment and conduct by putting up with it, but it is quite another thing to bear it in love. Then a death must take place! With the latter we have joy in our hearts, but there is no joy in the former.

Paul refers to himself here as the prisoner of the Lord. The circumstances were ordained by the Lord, and the purpose was that the Lord should be glorified in this situation, by the life of Christ being revealed in his body.

May we take this exhortation to heart so that walking worthy of our heavenly calling is always before our eyes, in every situation we encounter.