Even If i Walk Alone

Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus

Archives for July 2010

A Time for Reflection

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How long has it been since you did a reassessment of your life in general, and your spiritual life in particular? Study after study has shown that taking some time each day to simply think, reevaluate and plan will have a significant positive impact on your life. Those who engage in these activities, almost without exception, lead more successful and satisfied lives. The vast majority of us won’t engage in these activities even once a year, much less every day. As the saying goes, if you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’ve been getting. In other words, without reflection and redirection, growth will be excruciatingly slow at best and more than likely will be non-existent.

We all want to lead lives of excellence and feel like we’re making a difference in the world. Followers of Jesus take this to a whole different level as they seek to live a life that looks like that of Christ. One cannot achieve a Christ-like life without consistent and noticeable growth. Jesus stood out; wherever He went, people took notice. Because of the words He said and the things He did, Jesus drew attention to God and His glory. If that description does not match that of our lives, then we still have plenty of opportunity for growth. The question then becomes, “How do we achieve growth in Christ?” Finding good teachers, listening to powerful sermons or reading something challenging and encouraging are all good steps. However, head knowledge alone will not produce the radical growth for which we are looking. A relationship with God is an intimately personal relationship, so ultimately the growth we seek must come from within us and through His power.

Since the Spirit of God lives in those who trust in Him and follow Him, the power of Jesus is readily available to change you from the inside out. Reflection is a great means of tapping into this power. Take some time (fifteen minutes to an hour each day) to prayerfully look back over your day, your week and your life. In what ways have you successfully reflected the love of Jesus? In what ways have you failed to shine for Him? When have you felt the closest to God, and when have you felt the furthest away? What have you done that made you feel like you were successfully following after Him and what have you done that resulted in you falling away? Examine your answers honestly; this is only between you and God. It is often helpful to write down what you discover so in the future you can more easily look back over your life. After gathering the information, plan out your next day, week and month. Determine which things you need to do more of, or to what areas you need to give greater focus. By the same token, make certain you identify and cease doing those things that have negatively impacted your walk up to this point in your life. In reflecting over your past day or week, is there someone to whom you need to say “I’m sorry” and ask their forgiveness? Were there situations in which you overreacted and hurt someone else over something trivial? Go to that person and ask forgiveness. Forgive those who hurt you and realize that by so doing you are becoming more Christ-like. Perhaps nothing grows our faith more quickly than the asking for and the giving of forgiveness.

We can’t grow if we don’t know where we’ve been and who we’re becoming. Jesus often withdrew to be alone and pray. We should follow His model and use this time alone to allow Him to work in us so He might help shape us into who we were created to be. It’s a simple discipline that yields tremendous results. We take the time to get routine checkups for our dying physical bodies; is it not even more important to take the time for regular checkups of our eternal soul? Start with just fifteen minutes a day, perhaps when you first get up or right before you go to bed. Get alone with God, be still and reflect. I guarantee you will be amazed at how much this simple exercise will do to stimulate your growth. Jesus wants nothing more than for you to become who He created you to be. Take some time each day to make certain you are moving towards that goal.

Kindness and Compassion

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As followers of Jesus, one of our hallmarks is to show kindness and compassion to everyone we meet. Jesus modeled this beautifully when He was here on earth. He had compassion on the weak, the sick and the criminal. He showed kindness to the poor, the outcast, and the foreigner. Ephesians 4:32 tells us we should be kind, compassionate, and forgiving of one another. In Colossians 3:12-13 we read that not only are we to show kindness and compassion to each other, but also to be gentle, humble and accepting. Living life in such a manner would be a beautiful reflection of God. We want to live a life that looks like Jesus, so why is it so hard to behave in this way?

Forgiveness is always difficult. Our reaction to being hurt, whether emotionally or physically, seems to always be to respond in kind. It takes great discipline and maturity to restrain from lashing out. Above all, it takes great love to react appropriately. Unless we truly love others, we will never be able to successfully and consistently forgive them. Love is the key and the enabler of forgiveness. Further on in Ephesians (chapter 5, verse 2), we are instructed to walk in love, just as Jesus walked in love. Jesus loved us so much that He sacrificed everything He was for each one of us. This is true beauty. Without love, everything else is useless (see I Corinthians 13). Without love we cannot clearly demonstrate kindness and compassion; you can’t fake these things. When you offer a helping hand to someone, if it’s not genuine, it will more than likely be dismissed. No one wants to be condescended to and few will want your pity. Genuine kindness, however, is a rare and beautiful thing with almost universal acceptance.

What can you do today to demonstrate kindness to someone else? Ask the Lord to burn compassion deep into your heart, so that you may see others as He sees them. As Bob Pierce prayed years ago, beg God to break your heart with the things that break His. When your heart is broken by what you see, don’t weep and pass by; don’t simply become angry at the injustice that surrounds you. Rather, compassionately embrace the hurt that is front of you. Offer and employ genuine assistance out of pure kindness. Do the thing that Jesus would do; touch the untouchable, hug someone who smells of life on the street, and care for the needs of someone less fortunate than you.

Becoming angry at injustice is a good thing if the response is genuine and winsome. We mustn’t respond to injustice with hate, but rather with love. Compassion does not need to be a passive word. Compassion mixed with zeal can rescue children from the horrors of trafficking and can feed hungry refugees displaced from their homes by natural disaster or national genocide. Kindness and compassion require the active verb of love before they can be fully engaged. Without love, our actions are worthless. Without action, our love is hollow and disingenuous.

A simple smile, a small gesture or an out of the blue compliment can do wonders for the outlook of another. In a world filled with pain and sorrow, a little kindness will go a long way. Never become too busy to notice the needs of those around you. Never become so self-absorbed that you become blind to those in need to whom you can show compassion. Discipline yourself to never let an opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus pass you by. They will know we are Christians by our love. Love is activated by our kindness and compassion toward others. Make certain you find someone to love today.

Awareness of God

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There are times when I amaze myself with my own idiocy. I am passionately in love with Jesus Christ, and I am intimately aware of his sacrifice and love for me. My deepest desire is to live a life that looks like the life He lived, the life He intended me to live. Yet I find it so easy to lose track of what I’m doing or where I’m going. I have a relationship with the Creator of the Universe and I fail to seek Him or even recognize Him in every moment of my life. Between you and me, we can probably come up with a dozen theological or “churchy” terms for this, but I can’t escape from the knowledge that at its core, it is plain stupidity. I remember reading James 1:23-24 in the past, where the man looks at his face in the mirror and then immediately forgets what he looks like; my immediate thought was, “well, that’s pretty stupid”. I now recognize that I am that man. I am vividly aware of who I am in Christ one moment, and totally forget about Him the next. No matter how hard I try to keep Him consciously in sight, it seems inevitable that I will eventually lose focus and fall again. It is a paradox I could live without.

I have written before about Greg Boyd’s book, “Present Perfect”, and how it deals with being intentionally aware of Jesus in each moment of our lives. This is where we need to be. I realize I need to stop trying to see God in every moment and instead relax in His presence each moment, being fully aware that He is indeed with me. There is power in letting go, power in ceasing to strive, power in simply releasing ourselves from our futile attempts to know Him more. We cannot know more of Him by our own efforts, but only by allowing Him to reveal more of Himself to us. Jesus is beside us – literally – in every moment of our lives. Each moment you are tempted to fall away, each time you have a thought that is not worthy of God, remind yourself that Jesus is with you, right here, and right now.

The only way we can become the person we were created to be is if we acknowledge His presence in our lives on a moment by moment basis. I know from my brief encounters of success in this endeavor that doing this will be hard work. As with most difficult achievements, however, the reward is intensely sweet. Being awake, or aware, of God’s presence in each moment will lead to our awareness of Him in each day, in each week and in each year. Slowly, purposefully, we will build a life that is spent in the utter peace of the presence of Christ. Then we will truly be able to say that we ran a good race. Nothing else we accomplish in life will compare to staying awake to the presence of our Lord. From this, a life lived well for Him will flow. As we remain in His presence and allow His love to shine through us, we will do great things for Him. They may or may not be noteworthy acts by the world’s measure, but they will be acts of great love, kindness, and compassion. Our lives will reflect the will of Jesus, and there is nothing more beautiful or satisfying than a life that looks like His.

We were not created to be idiots; we were not created to fail. Jesus put his unique stamp on every one of us, and He has placed a desire within us to follow Him. We can never succeed on our own. It is only by the grace and love of God that we can become who He created us to be. The only way to get from where we are to where He waits is to let go, relinquish control, and stop striving for that which we already possess. He is already in this moment; we need only recognize it and open our eyes. As we allow ourselves to see the reality of His presence in each second of our lives, we will begin to change. We will reflect His love and we will be transformed. Lord, save us from our idiocy; open our eyes to the reality of Your presence, and let us walk each moment in total awareness that You are with us every step of the way. You surround us with Your love. Let us ache to reflect Your glory to a world desperate and thirsty for You.

Making the Most of Your Time

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Did you ever have one of those weeks where despite your best intentions, you ended up getting nothing done? I call these “lost weeks” and nothing can be more maddening for a driven, goal-oriented person like me. I suspect you too have had weeks that just passed you by without making any forward progress. The problem is that our best intentions do no not equal our best efforts. We can intend to do something all we want, but until we put effort behind the intention, then we have no action. Intention without effort is dead; it’s the same with our faith.

While letting time pass without reaching our goals or making forward progress can indeed be maddening, this same behavior is devastating to our spiritual walk. We are told in Ephesians 5:15-16 to make “the most of the time because the days are evil.” If we are not making the most of our time each day, we are allowing Satan to gain a greater foothold on our world. As we are commissioned to bring the kingdom of God to reality on earth, beating back the advances of the devil is one of our primary objectives. It’s not good enough to show up on Sundays to praise and worship with fellow believers; it’s not good enough to write a few checks in support of various ministries each month; and it’s certainly not good enough to give lip service to our commitment to Jesus Christ. Making the most of the time we have is not something we can do passively or half-heartedly. How many days do we let go by as we wallow in self-pity or simple laziness? How many days have passed since you have actively engaged in being the hands and feet of Jesus? None of us have any guarantee of living one more second on this planet. Every one of us faces the stark reality that today may be our last day on earth. This is urgent! The time to serve Christ is now because there may not be any other time available to do so. We must make the most of the time, and that time is right now!

A follower of Jesus cannot afford to have “lost weeks”. The truth is, if we are fully living our calling, we cannot even afford to have “lost minutes”. Every breath is precious to carrying out the mission of Jesus Christ. There is not a moment that He is not with you, but how many moments do we spend unaware of his presence and unconcerned or uncommitted to His work? We must be intentional people, deliberately measuring our words and our steps in order to put forth our best effort for Him regardless of our circumstances. We are the called and we are His chosen. We have committed our lives to being followers of Jesus Christ, to go wherever He might lead, and to do whatever He might have us to do. Becoming a follower of Jesus is optional; once committed, however, carrying out His mission is required.

Are you making the most of every second of every minute of every hour of your life? Do you breathe in the love of God and exhale His passion to the world around you? Are you committed to giving all that you have and all that you are to help bring about His Kingdom here on earth? This isn’t a game or a social club. Following Jesus isn’t something you do because it’s hip or cool. To be a true follower of Christ is treacherous, dirty, smelly and difficult work; it is not for the squeamish or the faint of heart. Are you ready to take up the cross of Christ and follow Him wherever He may go? Are you ready to live for Him, to die to all you have ever known, and to spend the rest of your life being the hands and feet of Jesus to a dark and lonely world? Begin today because there may not be a tomorrow for you. Love God, love people, and serve Jesus. Stay focused on His mission, making the most of the time you have.

Finding Your Calcutta

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I write a lot about poverty around the world, and our duty as followers of Christ to do all that we can to eliminate it. To be certain, it is vitally important to support the ministries doing the work in far away countries, so please do not misinterpret what I’m about to say. It’s easy to write a check to send around the world. It’s clean, it doesn’t affect our own life too much, and it’s a very safe thing to do. To actually go to one of these places on a short term mission’s trip is a little more difficult; it’s dirty, it smells bad and it’s inconvenient. You might even find yourself in a little danger. But it’s all very temporary. Soon you will be back in your warm bed, sleeping soundly in your safe neighborhood. You may be changed forever, or you may soon forget the things you saw there. Those who live and work in those countries and environments are true heroes of the faith. They have taken the call to be the hands and feet of Jesus to its full extent, forsaking their own comfort and safety in order to shine the love of Jesus on those less fortunate than them. The mistake we often make is in not realizing that we have the opportunity to live the same kind of life without ever leaving our own cities.

I live in Indianapolis, one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country. Within twenty-five minutes I can drive from one of the most affluent counties in America onto streets that are lined on both sides with broken down houses occupied by worn out people. If I drive just a few more minutes, I can see underpasses that serve as shelter for those who have no homes. On the streets of my well to do city I see the hollow eyes and hopeless stares of those with no job, no food, no housing and no hope. When asked by others how they might be able to work alongside her, Mother Theresa was often known to respond, “Find your own Calcutta”. Many of us will never travel to another country, and perhaps others will never have the funds to support an overseas ministry. But we can all find our own Calcutta. It’s in the streets of our downtowns, it’s on the rural farms on the outskirts of our counties, and it’s quite possibly in the very neighborhood where we live.

Our current economy has turned the world upside down for a lot of people. Those who owned beautiful homes just two years ago find themselves out of work, foreclosed on and wondering where they will find the money for their next meal. Still others have long ago become disenfranchised and now see life on the street as their only means of survival. These are human beings, exactly like you and me. The homeless are not lazy, ignorant or of a lower class. The poor are not poor because they choose to be. If you hold any of these stereotypes, I highly encourage you to study the subject of homelessness and poverty in America. Read books like “Same Kind of Different as Me”, “Under the Overpass”, and “Street Lives”. Take the time to engage someone less fortunate than yourself in conversation; get to know them and understand their life. Poverty is a vicious cycle, often handed down from generation to generation. It destroys the self image and can become its own self-fulfilling prophecy. Those in need are not different from you and me – they are you and me.

Jesus chose to spend the majority of His time with the poor and the sick. Most of us who claim to be His followers spend almost no time with people in these circumstances. While Jesus claimed it was not the healthy but the sick that needed the doctor, we instead choose to only cater to those with little need. James, the brother of Jesus said that true religion, religion approved by God, was to look after the orphans, the widows and those that are in need. Are you a true follower of Jesus or are you simply seeking a ticket to keep you out of Hell? A true follower of Jesus will serve those He served, and live the life He commands us to live. The single mother who cannot make ends meet is our modern day widow. The homeless person, who has no one to whom he can turn and no place to go, is our orphan. The poor, the hungry and the sick are those in need and it is they whom we must serve. Where is your Calcutta? Find it; it’s right down your street.

Note: This article is a part of the first edition of Here’s Life Inner City’s (www.hlic.org) iHope Blog Carnival. For more information and to read other entries that focus on homelessness and poverty, click here!