Our house in Boise, Idaho, backs up to a park with a walking track. You can see most of the path from our kitchen window, and because of that I’ve learned to recognize people by their walk.

There’s a lawyer from down the street who’s always in a hurry, an elderly man who trudges slowly by, a woman who strides with purposeful steps. Each has a characteristic gait.

The Bible instructs us: “Walk in love, as Christ also has loved us” (Eph. 5:2) and “Walk in wisdom” (Col. 4:5). I ask myself, “Does my walk reflect God’s love and wisdom?” Am I “pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy”? (James 3:17). Do I have love, joy, and peace? Am I tranquil and strong? What do others see as I walk by?

George MacDonald said, “If you who set yourselves to [theorize about] Christianity had set yourselves instead to do the will of the Master, the one object for which the gospel was preached to you, how different would be the condition of that part of the world with which you come into contact.” How different indeed!

Is your life making a difference in the lives around you? Do others see Jesus in what you say and do?  — David H. Roper