What Does it Mean to Live a Life Worthy of Our Calling?

Unity and Maturity in the Body of Christ

4 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Paul makes an important statement about what it means to live the Christian life.  He exhorts the Ephesians to live a life "worthy of the calling they have received".  Just what does it mean to live a life worthy of one's calling? How does one know if they are living a life worthy of my calling?  

One thing we do know clearly from Paul's other writings like Ephesians 2:8 is that living a "worthy" life is not what saves us.  If merely living a worthy life could save us, then Christ died for nothing.  Paul uses the language of what the NIV translates as "calling". Other definitions of the word can be: "vocation", "summons", "invitation" and "bidding" If comes from the Latin word "vocatio" which means to call forth.  Jesus called Paul personally on the road to Damascus and bid him to follow him to the ends of the earth.   

The word for "live a life" is consistent with the term "walking".  Just like we were not born with the skill of walking, with practice we could do it better each time.  Living a life worthy of our calling, is learning to walk with Jesus every day in a spiritual sense.  Each day we become more familiar with his life, so we can grow in walking in his footsteps.  

We also need to know what the sense of the word "worthy" is.  Here is what one commentator says, 

"Axios (worthy) has the root meaning of balancing the scales—what is on one side of the scale should be equal in weight to what is on the other side. By extension, the word came to be applied to anything that was expected to correspond to something else. A person worthy of his pay was one whose day’s work corresponded to his day’s wages. The believer who walks in a manner worthy of the calling with which he has been called is one whose daily living corresponds to his high position as a child of God and fellow heir with Jesus Christ. His practical living matches his spiritual position." (MacArthur)

I like the balance in his interpretation.  The balance for me is that though we were not worthy to save ourselves, Jesus considered us worthy so he called us to a new life in Him.  We live a worthy life when we honor God's plan and intention for our lives.  A worthy life is one which helps others discover their worthiness. We can share with others the worth we were given when we discovered God's great love for us. After all this is what most people are looking for.  To discover our true worth is measured by Jesus' death on the cross shows we are of inestimable value to God.  That's pretty cool.  

This is why the next verse after verse 1 says, 

 "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." 

A life worthy of our calling is one where the character of Christ is formed in us so that these words are a good description of how we live each day.  While we will never fully become like Christ, every step we walk with him we live out our calling in a way that honors what he has done for us.