Striving to Walk Circumspectly?

By Ron McGatlin

Recently the Lord spoke to me to tell a person to stop trying to walk circumspectly. My first thought was but Lord that does not sound biblical. However, I quickly obeyed because I have learned to not hold back when the Lord speaks. I can seek to understand it later. He is always faithful to bring clarity.

Some of the most unfulfilled people in the world are devout Christians who strive daily to live righteously and to get every detail right in their lives and behavior. Often they feel guilty or hopeless because they are continuously striving and still fail in one way or another. It is possible to make ourselves and the people around us to live in a measure of misery by our striving to walk circumspectly. Many people and probably some reading this believe this is the only way to live the Christian life. They may strive with a lot of taste-not and touch-not rules. They may count it their place in life to carry this heavy burden of striving against sin and concern of failing to measure up in some area of the walk of righteousness that God requires of them.

They may devoutly and religiously pray and read the Bible seeking Jesus continuously and yet never find the love, righteousness, peace and joy that come only from the Spirit. Always seeking but never finding the promised rest in God.

Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest,' " although the works were finished from the foundation of the world (Heb 4:1-3).

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedient unbelief (Heb 4:9-11).

Yes we are to walk circumspectly. However, we are not told to strive to do it. If we do we are working toward the right goal in the wrong way. Jesus said that His burden was light. There is a much larger factor involved. When that factor is in place it completely fulfills our walk in righteousness without striving to make it happen. The walk of righteousness or walking circumspectly is effortless, if we live in the Spirit and WALK IN THE SPIRIT. (Gal 5:16-25)

We don’t have to strive, sweat and toil over the many smaller things if we get the one big thing right. We get the treasure hidden in the field when we buy the field. When we buy the field of living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit we get the hidden treasure of righteous living. Our diligence should be to believe and yield in order to enter into His rest walking in the Spirit. We should not be striving to do right things or not do wrong things. Likewise we should not be striving to keep those around us doing right and not doing wrong. We don’t have to keep beating on our flesh to keep it in line and, just as importantly, we don’t have to keep beating on other’s flesh to get them to do right and stop them from doing wrong. The Spirit of God wars against our flesh and overcomes it with the love and joy flowing in the rivers of living water from within us by His Spirit (John 7; 37-39).

For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love (Gal 5:5-6).

For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Phil 2:13).

Who is it that does the work?

Christ in us by the Spirit is the desire and the power. His righteousness will manifest from the love of God experienced in our relationship with Jesus. Rest comes from intimately knowing and relating to Christ Jesus by the Spirit.

There are widespread and strongly held perversions of the truth propagated by the enemy through religion. It is widely believed that righteousness by faith means that while we live in sin, we believe God sees us as pure and holy as Jesus because we believe. This leaves us to struggle and repent over and over again for our continued disobedience and lack or to just live with sin. Righteous living comes by believing the truth.

The truth is that we are being transformed by the ultimate power of God in Christ Jesus abiding in us by the Holy Spirit. God is working in us by His Spirit empowering us to live in this world now as Christ Jesus lives in and through us. We are delivered in this life from darkness to light into a kingdom of living by and walking in the spirit, overcoming all sin and tendency to disobedience BY HIS POWER FLOWING THROUGH HIS PRESENCE OF LOVE, RIGHTEOUSNESS, PEACE AND JOY IN THE HOLY SPIRIT.

God is not requiring us to come up with righteousness – He is empowering us to live pure and holy lives of righteousness. Our part is to believe this and yield or agree and obedience is an effortless joy. THANK YOU JESUS!