The Christian Teaching about Walking with God

Jun P. Espina         4 min read

Updated on May 31st, 2022

Every culture characterizes our paths or manners of living in this life. It figures out as either the ways of light or darkness. If you are a cheater, you have your life in the realm of darkness; and if you are a righteous person, in the side of light. This cultural genus goes with human instinct. If you kill, you are a murderer, but if you attend church and are kind to others, are you not the good guy? But what is the Christian teaching about walking with God? What is the Bible teaching about living in the light and shadow of righteousness?

Today, most people do not want to make the Bible their moral guide. But in 1 John 1:6, we find a helpful instruction from the Holy Scriptures related to our righteousness. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness,” wrote the apostle John, “we lie and do not practice the truth.” (1 John 1:6) This Scripture speaks about “fellowship with Him” (Christ), “walk in the darkness,” and “practice the truth.” What’s the point? Well, man’s righteousness should bind itself with Christ as we “fellowship with Him” always. Your righteousness, outside of Christ, is merely a “walk in the darkness.” Why? Because it is destitute of the truth, who is Christ our Lord. (cf. John 14:6)

READ MORE: Pride Scrutinized and Viewed Positively

WALKING WITH GOD: HAVE A FELLOWSHIP WITH CHRIST

I want this point clarified. When you give tons of money to the poor without the honor and glory of Christ in it, you are giving something for your satisfaction and not God’s. In short, you walk in darkness, notwithstanding your contribution to the betterment of humanity, because you don’t have fellowship with Christ.

Wait. Don’t jump to a negative conclusion. Not yet.

We know that any form of charitable work has many health benefits. It improves your mood, and it even contributes to your longevity. The happy hormones (dopamine, etc.) should be activated to prolong life, and doing good to others helps the process. But it is not the Christian teaching about walking with God. Christ said, “[F]or apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) “And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” (Is.64:6, NKJV)—that is regarding God.

When you give your resources to Ukraine’s war, for example, it is not because of the displaced Ukrainians primarily. It is because you believe in Christ and that you want to obey His word to help the poor. In 1 John 1:5, John said: “This is the message we have heard from Him [Christ] and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness.” Walking with God means living life along with your faith, knowledge, and experience with Him. All your donations or other charitable deeds should be done because of Jesus—apart from your self-satisfaction and glory!

Self-satisfaction or the dopamine effect is a given in an event like this. But from the Christian doctrine, your fellowship with our Lord’s Spirit determines your walk with God or walk with the darkness. Your charities for the poor should always be the natural outcome of your true faith in Jesus Christ.

WALKING WITH GOD: DON’T WALK IN THE DARKNESS

Why should we connect our good deeds to Christ? Is it not unfair to the Hindus, the Muslims, or the atheist? Well, it is not. If you don’t believe in the Holy Bible, you can have all forms of righteousness available on the Internet. But it is not Christian righteousness.

The meaning of our life, like the beauty of a painting, depends on the floods of light on it. Christ is the Light of this world. That is the Christian doctrine. He said: “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12) Well, let’s go back to our illustration on charity: Your tons of money donated for the poor does not make you a righteous person in the eyes of God. If you will die today, you will go straight to hell, with the praises of millions of people about your goodness sinking Facebook.

Walking with God means genuine faith in Christ, His virgin birth, death, resurrection, and wholehearted trust in the Holy Bible. The apostle John wrote that if you have fellowship with Christ “and yet walk in the darkness,” you are a fake Christian. (1 John 1:6)

John also said that the Christians are not perfect, but the one marker that they are genuine followers of Jesus is that they love their brethren in the faith. Observe the following passage:

The reverse is the marker for those who rejected our Lord: They hate our Lord, His teachings from the Holy Bible, and His fellowship. “The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.” (1 John 2:9)

WALKING WITH GOD: PRACTICE THE TRUTH

Walking with God is connected to the truth. The atheists, for example, who practice homosexuality do not have the truth. It is the reason their ways are perverted and their conscience malfunctioning and not working for them.

In the US, the Liberals, particularly the Democrats and LGBTQ, believe that men can get pregnant. They curse God as much as they can since one can never walk with God outside of His truths.

Christ is the Truth. Therefore, walk with God through faith in our Lord Jesus.

I found thousands of godly people through the Internet. Some of them will kill in the name of their god. The others ignored the comfort of normal life just to serve their so-called god in their Temples. Without the Truth, who is Christ our Lord (John 14:6), they are like wanderers in the desert land of man-made religions whose founders are still in the cemetery today, dead, and cannot rise from the dead as with Christ our Lord.

The fake Christians, on the other side of the aisle, give their offerings and are very active in the church. They sing the hymns with feelings. But they don’t have the truth, just like the non-Christians. They can never walk with God based on the biblical standard because, in reality, they are strangers in Christ’s church.