They say that we should walk our dog every day whether we have one or not. Described by health experts as “almost perfect exercise,” walking requires no equipment or expense and is a good way to become more active. Many people sit too much of the time — using the computer, traveling in the car, or watching TV. When discussing walking, an Englishman once said that he knew there was nothing to the theory of evolution because Americans still have legs.
It is true that Europeans seem to walk more than we do on this side of the water. While walking is good for us, we should not be as concerned with bodily exercise as we are with spiritual exercise. Paul tells us, “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” It is important to notice that Paul does not say that bodily exercise is worthless. It is just not as profitable as is godliness.
There are many scriptural allusions to walking. We are warned how not to walk. The Psalmist says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.” Solomon also warns us where not to walk: “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.. .My son, do not walk in the way with them, keep your foot from their path.”
While physical walking is good for our health, all walkers end up dead in the end. However, those who walk in a godly manner will be blessed with life forever at the judgment: “whosoever believeth on him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” The prophet Micah puts it this way, “He hath showed thee, 0 man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.”
Walking can be tiring. Our walk to the kingdom is not a dash but requires endurance. We have trials and tribulations because God is training us in righteousness as sons for future glory. So, Paul advises, lift your drooping hands, strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet. As Jesus kept in mind the joys of the future age, so should we.
The route we take may be dangerous at times but David comforts us by saying, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
For the times we feel discouraged when the future looks bleak and dark, the Lord Jesus encourages us by saying, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
Walking a dog daily will bring short-term physical benefits, but walking daily in the ways of God brings the blessings of God’s guidance now, and the promise of life eternal in the age to come. King David’s last words to his young son Solomon as he prepared to ascend the throne are: “Keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself.”
We show our love for God by walking in his ways. John concludes the matter for us when he says, “And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, that, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One