{"id":32730,"date":"2019-11-07T13:56:29","date_gmt":"2019-11-07T13:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/?p=32730"},"modified":"2025-11-05T12:01:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T12:01:11","slug":"keep-walking-with-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2019\/11\/keep-walking-with-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep Walking with Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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\nLife is a marathon not a sprint. In fact we should probably characterise it as walking rather than running. Many people start of following Jesus<\/a> in a hurry. Everything seems to change over night. There is great enthusiasm. But perhaps the roots have not gone deep enough. \u00a0What Jesus is really looking for is a slow continuous walk with him. \u00a0Step by step. Day by day. Decision by decision. Time of prayer followed by time of prayer.<\/p>\n

What is better? Spending 45 minutes in a glorious prayer and bible reading session one day, then not doing either for a month, or spending 1 minute praying every day and then growing that period of time? It would seem the latter, though we can probably manage a bit more than a minute a day with the Saviour of our souls.<\/p>\n

In this instant world we want instant results. \u00a0I tell my kids about the days of catalogues that you would order something from and wait 21 days for delivery. \u00a0They get disappointed when an online store doesn\u2019t offer next-day delivery and wish we lived in an area where same-day delivery was an option.<\/p>\n

There are many Bible verses that we read all wrong because we tend to think they point back to a one off moment of crisis conversion, rather than an ongoing present continuous. \u00a0It turns out if you look at the Greek of many of our popular verses Jesus is actually calling for a continue walk with him rather than a simple decision one day. \u00a0Feel the impact of this verse which has had the tenses corrected and slightly paraphrased:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy sheep are listening to my voice, and I am getting to know them, and they are following me and walking with me. I am giving them eternal life, and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

(John 10:27-28 adapted from\u00a0The American Bible \u2013 The books of the Bible in Modern English<\/a> \u00a0)<\/p>\n

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Source: pixabay.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The verbs are all *continuous* which makes this well known verse much more challenging but also glorious. Jesus is offering us a journey of following him, or to put it another way walking with him. He is promising that he will speak if we will only daily listen, that he will spend time getting to know us and us him. \u00a0And he is continually giving us eternal life which not only goes on forever but has a better richer quality. \u00a0So if we feel that our life is lacking a little at the moment, we can seek him for more of the eternal life today. Surely this journey Jesus is speaking of is the journey of prayer.<\/p>\n

If prayer is a journey it involves some steps we have already been talking about in this series of Jesus\u2019 commands. \u00a0We must listen\u00a0to Jesus voice<\/a>, we must also be getting to know him,<\/a>\u00a0which should lead to us following him.<\/a>\u00a0These are all experiential words but Jesus underlines this by explaining that he is at the same time giving us eternal life this is a life that is both a deep and vibrant real life, and one that lasts for ever. It is a life that comes to us by means of us receiving the Holy Spirit<\/a>\u00a0whom Jesus gives to us, precisely in order that we might have life to the full (John 10:10).<\/p>\n

These active verbs make it plain that we are not simply pointing back to one moment of glorious decision and rebirth<\/a> when we listened to Jesus and became a Christian. No, this is a lifestyle of prayer, and a journey of faith. As we walk on this journey we will struggle at times, and we will face suffering along the way. But Jesus is walking alongside us getting to know us too<\/a>. \u00a0What a beautiful thing this is. \u00a0We can walk with him and talk with him as we journey along what can sometimes be a weary road.<\/p>\n

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How do we do this? \u00a0One way is surely to slow down in order to meet Jesus.<\/a> And we must have times when we learn to be still and know that he is God<\/a>. But the intimacy being spoken about in this passage is the intimacy of knowing Jesus is always with us and so we pray always<\/a>. \u00a0In a sense we never stop praying. \u00a0Every moment we declare again our dependency on him. We tell him again and again we need him. \u00a0That we are not the strong capable people some others might think we are. \u00a0No we are needy. We long for him. \u00a0We want to know him. We desire his power. We long for his presence. \u00a0We want to know what he wants us to do, and we want him to empower us and enable us to do what it is he wants us to do!<\/p>\n

Keller talks about simply walking as being a crucial tool to deal with suffering, and it is the chapter that begins his list of practical ways to cope with suffering we have been speaking about in recent posts<\/p>\n