Scripture: “That you may walk worthy of the Lord...” Colossians 1:10 (NKJV)
Observation: The verb tense in the original Greek may express purpose or result which is the aim of the right knowledge of God. “The end of all knowledge is conduct” (Lightfoot). You can slo compare how Paul uses this word in other places: I Thess. 2:12; Phil. 1:27; Eph. 4:1
Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language offers several definitions of the word “worthy:”
1. (n.) Having worth or excellence; possessing merit; valuable; deserving; estimable; excellent; virtuous.
2. (n.) Having suitable, adapted, or equivalent qualities or value; -- usually with of before the thing compared or the object; more rarely, with a following infinitive instead of, or with that; as, worthy of, equal in excellence, value, or dignity to; entitled to; meriting; -- usually in a good sense, but sometimes in a bad one.
3. (n.) of high station; of high social position.
4. (n.) A man of eminent worth or value; one distinguished for useful and estimable qualities; a person of conspicuous desert; -- much used in the plural; as, the worthies of the church; political worthies; military worthies. (http://bibledictionaries.com/worthy.htm)
Application: According to language scholar Kenneth Wuest, the word “worthy” in this verse of Colossians is a word which is best translated as “weight.” What you are praying according to this admonition then, is that your family members walk (go about their lives) each day in such a manner that their words and actions “carry weight.”
When we pray for a loved one that they walk worthy of the Lord, we are asking Him to help them is their conduct so that they demonstrate the character of Christ and everyone who meets them knows that their word, their life carries weight, that it is not easily moved by the winds of fashion, or opinion, or peer pressure.
In old days, people would make an agreement by either a simple handshake or at times a verbal agreement. That small action carried all the weight of their character, of their family’s name and reputation. Those who made that type of agreement would sooner die than to fail to make good on their word. They would say things like “my word is as good as money.”
Nowadays a person’s name, word, or handshake does not carry the same weight as a legal contract, and there are many who don’t even respect the agreement made in such a document.
Stop to pray right now that those you love most – your spouse, your children, other relatives, friends – may be walk, may life in such a worthy manner that their life, their word be respected and appreciated by others. . . that it may carry weight.
A Prayer You May Say: Father God, bless my child (husband/wife) that they may walk is such a way before You that their character of integrity may be reflected in their words and actions.
Used by permission of Adventist Family Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.