World ChangersSample

Step by Step

Scripture: Genesis 5:24; Hebrews 11:5

When you make the promise to walk through life with someone, you are saying that you will be there with that person through the highs and lows, through the rough patches and the mountaintop moments. You are there to love them and to understand them. When we say we are “walking with God,” it’s essentially the same. But even more.

Author Eugene Peterson called this walk of faith “a long obedience in the same direction.” It is following Christ with consistency. It is staying with it. That is the kind of person who is going to change the world. 

And that brings us to Enoch. 

Enoch lived way, way back near the beginning of everything, during one of the darkest times in human history. In fact, it was so warped, perverted, and evil that God actually said, “I am sorry that I even made man in the first place” (see Genesis 6:6). God was about to bring judgment on earth through the great flood. 

Yet even in that dark time, Enoch walked with God so steadily that he ended up walking right into Heaven without dying. I can almost imagine what happened. After taking many enjoyable walks together and getting deeper and deeper into conversation through the years, it’s almost as if the Lord turned to Enoch and said, “Hey buddy, we’ve walked a long way, and we’re closer to My house than we are to yours. Why don’t you just come on home with Me?” 

But this isn’t just ancient history. It can be our story too. The same spiritual resources that were available to Enoch are available to us. We can live godly lives in an ungodly world.

You might say, “Greg, you don’t know my world. You don’t know my family. You don’t know what it’s like to live in my neighborhood. You don’t know what my workplace is like, or what it’s like to live on my campus.” 

Maybe I don’t. But I do know this: No matter how messed up or evil your environment might be, you can live for Jesus Christ in an ungodly world, and Enoch proves it. 

Here’s what all of us need to remember: Spiritual growth doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, it takes perseverance, and it takes step after step after step. 

How does walking with God look different than sprinting with God?