No. This is not about exercise. Let me explain.
I came across a familiar ad. It’s an invitation to visit the Holy Land, Israel. And the selling point is something perhaps many Christians (yes, including myself) desire to experience: “Walk where Jesus walked.”
A trip to Israel could be quite inspiring. The experience may easily be one of the highest (if not the highest) of spiritual highs. To ponder the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem; to wade in the waters of the Jordan where Jesus was baptized; to kneel in prayer at the garden of Gethsemane; to bow down in quiet reflection in Calvary; to peek into the empty tomb.
Of course, no one really knows the exact location of many of these special places. But just having the chance to be in the possible vicinity may be worth one’s while. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime.
However, this time I also wondered how a trip to Israel may easily become more of a tourist trip than a spiritual pilgrimage. In fact, the cost of such a trip may be on the “luxurious” side of things for me. Don’t get me wrong. If I had the chance, I probably would go ahead and take it. Yet, perhaps I should also consider pursuing something more pressing, something that may be experienced in the day-to-day of life without having to make a special trip.
I started reflecting on how “walking” is used as a metaphor for a person’s way of life. Consider the following: “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Colossians 2.6–7 ESV). “We ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received from us how you must walk and please God—as you are doing—do so even more” (1 Thessalonians 4.1 HCSB). Clearly, the reference to walking in these verses is about one’s manner of living.
This leads me to conclude that, while I will continue to be open to the special chance to “walk where Jesus walked,” I should give more attention to “walk as Jesus walked.” In other words, while it is good to be inspired by the spiritual high of a visit to the Holy Land some time in the future, it is more compelling and abundantly more beneficial to seek to be transformed by submitting to the working of God’s Spirit each day of my life, beginning right now.
Come to think of it, learning to walk as Jesus walked (right now) would probably make walking where Jesus walked (in the future) truly meaningful.
—Keith Y. Jainga