When I use the phrase “walk this way”, I am not referring to the song by Aerosmith. I am thinking about a brief comment Steve made as a side note in class last Sunday. He said you cannot walk with God and with Satan because they are traveling in opposite directions. This got me thinking about all the ramifications of that concept and how the scriptures might shed more light on it.
Walking with God
- Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life” (John 8:12).
- In Romans 6:4, Paul wrote, “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
- Philippians 3:17 states, “Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.”
- John declared, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:17). John goes on to say, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (1 John 2:6).
Walking with Satan
- Jesus indicated in John 8:12 that not walking with Him was to walk in darkness.
- Ephesians 2:2 states, “In which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.”
- “For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies” (2 Thessalonians 3:11).
- Peter reminds us that “…the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority” (2 Peter 2:9-10).
So, when I say, “walk this way,” are you walking with the apostles, Jesus, and God towards heaven, OR are you walking with Satan and his cohorts towards eternal hell?