The Spirit-filled Christian’s Walk is an Act of Worship

by Mike Ratliff

¹⁶ Rejoice always; ¹⁷ pray without ceasing; ¹⁸ in everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. ¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit; ²⁰ do not despise prophecies, ²¹ but examine all things; hold fast to that which is good; ²² abstain from every form of evil.

²³ Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ Faithful is He who calls you, who also will do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:16–24 Legacy Standard Bible)

The Christian walk that John Bunyan set before us in his masterpiece The Pilgrim’s Progress is not one of “having your best life now” nor is it having all of your problems suddenly replaced with “opportunities.” No, Bunyan understood, and we need to as well, that no where in God’s Word are we promised that all we have to do is “come to Jesus and all our problems are over.” No, in fact, the opposite may very well be true. Jesus was not exaggerating when he said:

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹ “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. (John 15:18–19 Legacy Standard Bible)

Why does the world hate real Christians? They are not of the world, but have been chosen by Christ out of the world, regenerated and made part of His Kingdom. This change is radical. This salvation is by grace through faith not according to merit or works, but according to Ephesians 2:10 good works are part of what this Christian walk is all about:

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10 Legacy Standard Bible)

In fact, our Lord Jesus went so far as to say it very plainly in John 14:15:

  “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. (John 14:15 Legacy Standard Bible)

Therefore, genuine Christians will be evident to the world because they will serve their Lord with their lives in obedience walking in the good works set before them by God Himself. That means also that they will not be those compromising all over the place with false religions seeking unity with false brethren and obvious wolves in sheep’s clothing for the sake of a friendly, false peace. That sorta explains why the world hates us don’t you think?