Walking, Bearing, and Growing: Three Things for Our Spiritual Walk
"...so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." — Colossians 1:10 (ESV)
When we pray for the people we love, most of us pray for circumstances — health, provision, a door to open, a hard season to end. Paul prayed differently. Writing to a church he'd never met, he prayed not that their lives would get easier but that their walk with God would go deeper. In a single verse, he lays out three things he longed to see in them — three things worth longing for in us, too.
First, Paul prays that they'd walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him. That can sound heavy — like a bar we could never clear — but a worthy walk isn't about impressing God; it's about resembling Jesus. It's a life that begins to look like the One who loved, served, forgave, and trusted His Father completely. Not perfection — direction. The question isn't whether I've arrived; it's whether the day-to-day patterns of my life are bending, however slowly, toward Him.
Second, he prays that they'd bear fruit in every good work. Here's where I have to catch myself — because fruit isn't something I produce by trying harder. Jesus said it plainly: a branch can't bear fruit by itself; it has to stay connected to the vine (John 15:4). Fruit simply grows out of a life that stays close to God — people drawn to Christ, worship that spills over, generosity with our time and money, and a character that slowly turns holy. When I notice I've gone fruitless, the fix usually isn't more effort. It's getting back on the vine.
Third, he prays they'd keep growing in the knowledge of God. Not the kind of knowledge that puffs up — the kind that draws us closer. The goal was never information; it's intimacy. You can tell when it's happening: a growing hunger for His Word, a quicker yes to obedience, a faith that holds steady under weight, and a love for people that keeps widening. Those aren't badges to earn — they're the fingerprints of a God we're actually coming to know.
The order isn't accidental. We walk like Him, bear the fruit that grows from staying near Him, and come to know Him more — and each one feeds the others. This is what Paul longed for in a church he loved, and it's what God wants for you. Not a performance to keep up, but a life that keeps growing — worthy, fruitful, and rooted more deeply in Him with every passing year.
Big Idea
Walking worthy, bearing fruit, and growing in the knowledge of God are three strands of a life rooted in Christ. Stay connected to the Vine, and each strand grows — and feeds the others.
Questions to Ponder
As you sit with Paul's three-part prayer, which of the three does the Spirit seem to be underlining for you right now — the way you walk, the fruit of your life, or how well you actually know God? Where does your walk most resemble Jesus, and where does it still resist Him? When you think honestly about fruit, does it feel like something you've been straining to produce, or something growing naturally out of time spent close to Him? In reading today's devotional, can you sense the Lord surfacing something that needs your attention?
Application
With your journal in hand, read Colossians 1:10 slowly, then write the three strands down the page — walk, fruit, knowledge. Under each, build a short list rather than a single line — where you see growth, and where you've stalled or are struggling. Don't settle for the first thing that comes; let each strand pull more out of you. Then pick the one the Spirit keeps pressing on. If it's your walk, name one relationship or habit that needs to start looking more like Jesus — maybe someone you've withheld compassion from — and take a step toward them this week. If it's fruit, don't grit your teeth to produce more; name what's pulled you off the vine and get reconnected — time in the Word, in prayer, with His people. And if it's knowledge, set one simple rhythm for meeting God in Scripture this week, and keep it. Then close by thanking Him — because the same God who prompts growth is the One who grows it.
Before the Lord — a daily devotional by Blake S. Crawford. Read more and subscribe free at blakescrawford.com/before-the-lord.