Walking Worthy

Walking Worthy

Watchman Nee, the Chinese church leader who spent the last twenty years of his life in Communist prisons, wrote extensively about the 'normal Christian life.' His central thesis was that most Christians live far below what Christ has made available. He wrote from prison: 'I am a prisoner of the Lord — not of the Communists. The Lord has allowed this. And in it, I learn what it means to walk worthy.' He was known in prison for his gentleness, his peace, and his witness to guards and fellow prisoners. When asked how he maintained such dignity in degrading conditions, he said: 'The calling is too high to walk beneath it.'

Ephesians 4:1 is the hinge verse of the entire letter — chapters 1-3 are theology (who we are in Christ), chapters 4-6 are practice (how we live in light of that). The connecting word is 'therefore.' Because of everything Paul has described about adoption, grace, the Spirit's sealing, the riches of Christ — therefore live worthy of it. The word 'worthy' (axios) is a commercial term meaning to have equal weight, to match what is on the other side of the scale. Paul is inviting us to match our daily life to the extraordinary calling we've received. Not to earn the calling — it was given freely. But to live in correspondence with who we've been declared to be. Worthy living is not earning; it is matching.