A Different road

Mat 2:11 And coming into the house, they saw the child with Mary His mother. And they fell down and worshiped Him. And opening their treasures, they presented gifts to Him, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. 13 And when they had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise and take the young child and His mother and flee into Egypt. And be there until I bring you word, for Herod is about to seek the child to destroy Him.

The followers of Christ travel by a different road.

The wise men traveled by a different road as they left Bethlehem because of a divine communication that came to them.

Wise men who come to Jesus Christ today travel a different road thereafter because of the divine gift of a new nature and because of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, which is the gift of God to those who receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (Gal 4:5 That he might make them free who were under the law, and that we might be given the place of sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, saying, Abba, Father. 7 So that you are no longer a servant, but a son; and if a son, then the heritage of God is yours.)


The different road that the disciples are to follow as a result of letting Jesus Christ become Lord is demonstrated and clarified in Paul's letter to the Ephesians.

He shows at least four different ways in which we are to walk.

A. We are to "walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called" (Eph. 4:1). The apostle is affirming that belief in Jesus Christ as Lord should result in behavior that is worthy of one's new relationship to God.

 Believers are to respond to the highest and best that is within them because they have received through the new-birth experience the new nature that comes from God.

 This new nature is to be worked out in actual experi-ence and is to result in good works that magnify and glorify God (Phi 2:12 So then, my loved ones, as you have at all times done what I say, not only when I am present, but now much more when I am not with you, give yourselves to working out your salvation with fear in your hearts; 13 For it is God who is the cause of your desires and of your acts, for his good pleasure.)

B. We are to "walk in love" (Eph. 5:2).

 The love of which Paul speaks is agape love, the God-kind of love that expresses itself in a persistent, unbreak-able spirit of goodwill toward others.

 This kind of love can demonstrate kindness and helpfulness even toward the most unattractive.

 This imperative does not call for an emotional attraction, but for a Christian response both to those inside the faith and to those outside the family of God.

C. We are to "walk as children of light" (Eph. 5:8). Verse 9 explains what this means: "(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)" (NIV).

 To walk in the light is to walk conscious of the fact that we are always in God's presence.

 It means to walk in complete transparency. It means to walk differently from the ungodly world.

D. We are to walk in wisdom rather than in foolishness (v. 15).

 Followers of Christ are to watch their step and not follow the ways of foolishness and stu-pidity that lead to self-destruction and to harmfulness to others.

 To accomplish this we must continually seek to know the mind of God.

 We can do this best by listening to the words of Jesus Christ and not only hear him, but heed him (Matt. 7:24-27).

Helen Keller wrote, "If we trust, if we relinquish our will and yield to the Divine will, then we find that we are afloat on a buoyant sea of peace and under us are the everlasting arms."

Moody said, "Trust in yourself, and you are doomed to disappointment; trust in your friends, and they will die and leave you; trust in reputation, and some slanderous tongue may blast it; but trust in God, and you are never to be confounded in time or eternity." Luther gave a similar testimony when he said, "I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess."

What do we still have in our lives, that would come between us and God, that would prevent us from walking in the fullness of His blessing, His presence in our daily walk?

Is there something that we need to lay aside, something to put away and out of our lives, to experience His power?
 Unwillingness to forgive,
 pride, arrogance,
 the little `white lie`,
 the doubt.

It is so easy to allow something, to creep in, to get a foothold, thereby preventing us to walk in His fullness.

1Ki 8:56 Praise be to the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, as he gave them his word to do; every word of all his oath, which he gave by the hand of Moses his servant, has come true. 57 Now may the Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers; let him never go away from us or give us up; 58 Turning our hearts to himself, guiding us to go in all his ways, to keep his orders and his laws and his decisions, which he gave to our fathers.

Doubt and unbelief, will be eradicated from our lives, once we purposefully decide to follow the instruction of the Word.

This does not happen by itself, it is the result of a conscious decision.

Joh 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you. 8 In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you shall be My disciples. 9 As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you; continue in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.