Walking with Jesus

I like to take rides with my adult children; it gives us an opportunity to talk. For some reason, a car ride is a conversation starter, and whether our discussions take a serious turn or simply allow us to catch up on the lighter things of life, this time holds great value to me. Walks can do the same, and Jesus and his disciples certainly upped their step count as they travelled throughout Israel.

The journey from Judea to Galilee can average around 70 miles, depending on where you start from and your destination. Let's do some simple math. Given an average walking speed of 3 miles per hour, travelling 70 miles would take about 210 hours, a journey that could potentially span three weeks. That's a good amount of time for lessons, questions, discussions, and discipleship. Now consider that (by my count) John's Gospel account tells us Jesus and his disciples travelled between the two areas eight times (at least). That would be about 1700 hours! ¹

Admittedly, this was a fun exercise (no pun intended) for me, but there is an important point to this: Jesus' disciples spent a lot of time with him on the road. In fact, you might even say that part of Jesus' discipleship regimen included walk and talk time with him. And, I believe, you could say the same for us as his followers. We need time with Jesus, and that can include making time for physical walks (if you are able) to pray and ponder and listen.

The miraculous often needs explanation and hundreds of hours walking with the Christ afforded the disciples much time for clarification and teaching from the lips of Jesus. You may not feel that you have the same access in your time with Jesus, and while your time with Jesus certainly differs from the apostle's time with Jesus, you do have access to him by the Spirit. The Spirit will illuminate and apply his words to you.

Tim Keller, a gospel preacher whom I much admire, writes about the importance of slowly mulling over Scripture in order to feed on the depths of God's word. He describes how he was given an exercise at a conference to read and study a verse in Scripture for 30 minutes in order to mine at least 30 things from that verse. A single verse. Thirty minutes. Keller shares that most of the participants in this exercise found the most impacting thing they learned came after 25 minutes. Slow study of the word of God is one good way to walk with Jesus.

When we spend time in prayer, reading, meditation and listening, we give the Lord opportunity to speak to and encourage our hearts. We learn what it means to walk with him. I like to say (and remind myself) that time spent with Jesus is time well-spent. ² With such an attitude put into practice we'll not only discover the heart of our Savior and Lord, we'll also find the strength to walk out our faith.

How about taking a walk with Jesus today?

Scripture References

¹ I referenced John, chapters 1-12 for this exercise.

² Luke 10:38-42