Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation with which you are called, I do not think that St. Paul would consider, or have a right to consider, that his bondage was then his "vocation"; but an affliction, a sickness, an inability even to move, may be as much a "vocation" as anything that may happen in life. But he urges the Ephesians to use "worthily" — while they have it — their "vocation to walk." To "walk" ought to be used as the emblem of a Christian life; and for this reason, because "walking" alone of all our actions places the whole man in motion, and that motion is a progressive one. It was "a calling"! Then there must be a caller. Who was the Caller? Was there not a Providence in the fact of your "calling"? 1. In the first place remember that "call" came from the Holy Trinity. The Father willed it, the Son mediated to obtain it, the Holy Ghost applied it. Is it then a fact that you have been thought worthy of the notice, the remembrance, the power, the love of each Person in that holy blessed Trinity? What a sacred, what a solemn thing that "call" must be! 2. Each Person in that mysterious Three is love, perfect love. That "call" then was the call of infinite, unspeakable love. Have you been walking "worthy of the vocation" of love? Could you say that your life is a life of love. Your walk, your walk! does it drop love at every step? Remember what you were when you had a call of love. You were unloving and unlovable. 3. But there is another particular characteristic of that love wherewith you were called. It was a call of forgiveness. The whole Trinity had combined to make that forgiveness. Now let me ask, Is there anyone at this moment in the whole world whom you have not forgiven? If so, then you are not walking worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. 4. But there was another predominant characteristic in your call — it was a call to holiness. "Be ye holy, for I am holy." Now are you walking every day a holy walk? Moreover, your call was a call to activity; also a call to a higher life. Are you walking worthy of it? (J. Vaughan, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, |
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