I therefore the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. Ephesians 4:1
According to Sir Charles Lyell, you should never call an accountant a credit to his profession; a good accountant is a debit to his profession. We know what he means. And we know well the expression ‘a credit to his profession’. If you do a Google search, you will get half a million responses. In every area of expertise, there are those who excel and those who perform stalwart service, just as there are always those who are a disgrace. In the sports world, not everybody is selected to the Hall of Fame. But of those who are not, there are many who discharge their responsibilities admirably, and they are appreciated for doing so. They are like those of whom Paul speaks in our text today, who walk worthy of their vocation.
As Christians, what is our vocation? The term ‘vocation’ as used in this text refers to a calling or invitation by God to a life of worship and service for Him. Just as God did not force us against our will to be saved, he does not force us against our will to serve and worship him. He desires that we do so of our own will. I doing so, we bring glory to him that is impossible from angels, for example, which are obedient and reverent because they cannot be anything else. So God calls us, or invites us, to the highest purpose that humanity can reach, that of serving and worshipping our God. Such a lofty vocation is surely a great honour. And our text tells us that it is possible for us to walk worthy of that vocation. Howe can we do that?
Paul gives us some ideas in the next verse. He starts off with lowliness and meekness, because, despite the loftiness of our vocation, there is no room for pride in it. Pride is the greatest stumblingblock to a walk worthy of our vocation. Paul also speaks of longsuffering and forbearing one another in love. A christian must be able to get along well with other Christians, and to value and appreciate those other Christians, even when those other Christians are not easy to get along with. This is far more important that we realize, and we often forfeit a worthy walk by a wrong attitude to other believers. There are many other aspects of a worthy walk, but humility and love surely head the list. If we can get that far, we will have a good start on the greatest vocation to which we can possibly be called.
Even as a prisoner, Paul had a deep interest in seeing the Christians in Ephesus walking worthy of their vocation. The Holy Spirit Who inspired him to write those words is also deeply interested in whether we walk worthy in our day. -Jim MacIntosh