Even If i Walk Alone

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

Archives for March 2011

The Fear of Losing

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We all find security in something. For some it’s our jobs, for others it’s their money. Some find security in their possessions and others in their families. The true follower of Christ will find their security only in Him. Jesus said that whatever we gain on this earth will be lost, but if we put our trust and faith in Him, we will gain eternal life (Matthew 16:24-27). We clutch tightly to what we perceive to be secure while neglecting that which truly is.

There is an art to letting go and a freedom in travelling light. Anything gained in this world will at some point become a burden. Money becomes a stumbling block to stepping out in faith. Families bring responsibilities that can limit our movement. Both money and family can be tremendous blessings, but we must realize that earthly blessings come with some sacrifice. Any responsibility by its very nature requires our time and energy which results in time not entirely focused on God. Again, this is not inherently sinful; it’s simply a restriction of human beings. Physical entities do not have the ability to be more than one place at once. Our brains can only accommodate one thought at a time. Yes, we can perform rote tasks while thinking about something else, but our minds will be rapidly and constantly shifting focus from one task to the next. True focus requires our undivided attention.

We want to seek God above all else and desire to be in His presence always; yet the temptations of this world call out to us, steal away our focus, and erode our faith. Serving as a missionary seems noble, but we have our family to think about. Stepping out in faith is exciting, but we have a lot of financial responsibilities to consider. Giving money to the poor is what Christ would want us to do, but we find ourselves a little short at the end of the month after paying our cell phone bill. We cling to things that are of no consequence. We hold tightly to all we are destined to lose, and we do this at the expense of the Kingdom of God.

When we stand before Jesus and give an account of our lives, I guarantee you He will not be impressed by the square footage of our house, the car we drove, the job we had or the balance of our bank account. All of the things we covet stand in contrast to the will of God. Our selfishness is detestable to Him. We have large homes with extra rooms while millions sleep on the street tonight. We spend thousands and thousands of dollars on multiple cars yet millions in Africa will walk miles just to retrieve some water. Hoarded money swells our investment accounts while billions go hungry. We are holding on to the wrong stuff. We are desperately trying hold onto what we cannot keep, and sacrificing all that truly matters to Jesus.

What is the answer? What is the cure for the disease of selfishness and insecurity? In a word, the answer is Jesus. When we seek to live our lives as He did, we will find our priorities changed. When we begin to take seriously the word He spoke and the commands He gave, we will begin to be like Him and the chains of this world will fall away. Until we become deadly serious about devoting the whole of our lives to Him, we will continue to struggle in our pseudo-Christianity. Until we recognize Him as the Lord of our lives, we will remain lip-service Christians. Our hypocrisy stands in judgment over us. May God save us from ourselves and our paltry attempts to live for Him! Until we are ready to lose it all for His sake, we will never gain the life He has prepared for us. Love God, love others; serve the Lord with all your heart, mind, strength and soul. Don’t be afraid to lose what you cannot keep. Rather, tremble at the thought of never taking hold of that which you cannot lose. Only Jesus is eternal; only that which is done in His name will remain. What are you afraid of losing?

Come and Die

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It’s the greatest invitation ever given, a greatly compelling recruitment speech: Jesus said to come and die. He told everyone who followed Him that if they continued to do so they would face persecution. To sweeten the pot He informed them that they would become homeless, rejected by their families and in the end be put to death. Can’t you just see the people rushing to sign up? But this is the call of Christ, to come and die.

Are you willing to give up everything you own for the cross of Christ? Are you ready to die for the sake of pursuing His mission? Would you pursue Him without promise of any reward for yourself? A life spent following Christ is a life full of risk and adventure. We risk what we perceive to be safety in this world for the sake of knowing Him and continuing the mission to which He calls us. In a “me first” generation, sacrificing our own lives for the sake of another is a foreign concept. If we are going to lay everything on the line, we expect a certain return on our investment. But that’s not how the Kingdom of God works. To be a true follower of Jesus, we must give up everything we are solely for the chance to know Him better. Christ is the reward, and to receive it we ultimately must die.

Most of us in the United States have grown up being taught to pursue the American dream. We are expected to acquire material goods to prove our success. Possessions are tangible items that make it a simple matter to measure our progress against that of another. In the race to achieve higher and higher goals while gaining more and more goods, we ignore the very simple message of the Gospel. Jesus said that to find Him, we must lose ourselves. If we are to gain life with Him, we must first die to ourselves (Luke 17:33). Anyone who is living for themselves can never truly love those around them. If we don’t love others, we can’t love Christ (1 John 4:20).

In the Western world, Christianity has come to be synonymous with prosperity and success. For many years, this bad theology has been propounded to the masses and is now accepted as gospel in many circles. The teaching is false and not found in the Bible. The Israelites were told if they would follow all of God’s statutes then they would prosper in their land (Deuteronomy 5:33). That’s about as close as one gets to Biblical approval of the so- called “prosperity gospel”. However, which one of us has succeeded in obeying all of God’s commands? We all have fallen short and missed the mark (Romans 3:23). This is why Jesus came to sacrifice Himself for us. Without His blood and His resurrection, we would all be hopelessly lost. With our sinful tendencies we cannot perfectly keep the law of God. It is only by the grace of Jesus that we have hope of eternal life with Him.

By coming to die, Jesus set the example for us. He did not turn away from the cross that was set before Him, but rather He embraced it knowing that through His sacrifice, many would live. As followers of Jesus, we have the same call on our lives today. Life is not about what we can acquire or how successful we might become. Rather, it is about sacrificing ourselves for the good of others. It is about setting aside our own ambitions so that everything we do might point back to God and bring glory to Him. Our lives are to be lived for a single purpose, the opportunity to reflect the love and beauty of Jesus Christ to a world in desperate need of the truth. If we will live with Jesus Christ being our only goal, then we will achieve true fulfillment; we will receive His blessing on our life and His mercy at our death. Along the way we may be asked to give everything we own away; we may face persecution and watch those we love be taken from us. Following Jesus is dangerous because we are warring with the powers of darkness. To those who choose this path, to those who persevere, there is light and there is life. If we would follow Jesus then we must embrace our death. Jesus said to come and die. Is He worth it to you?

We Know What’s Right

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Too often we choose to do things that are contrary to what we know Christ would have us to do. A wayward glance, an unkind word, a condescending sneer; every day we engage in behavior that is opposed to the Word of God. Yet I believe we fail to weigh the gravity of our actions. Everybody sins, nobody’s perfect, so what else should we expect? We fail to recognize the power of Christ within us; we do have the power to overcome our failures and live as a true follower of Jesus. Ours is not a destiny resigned to defeat. Victory is a prayer away if we would only choose to invoke God’s power in our lives.

Another reason I believe I falter is that I do not consider the pain I cause my Lord. If we truly recognized and understood how much God hates sin, we would be hard pressed to willingly engage in it. Our sin caused God to turn away from His own Son while He hung on a cross for us. God despises sin and demands obedience. We deserve death and punishment, but by the grace of the shed blood of Jesus we receive love and pardon. I don’t want to cause pain for my Savior; I don’t want to fall short of the mark He has set for me.

If only we would keep these thoughts before us, I think we would be much less likely to sin. We need to develop the habit of quickly taking a mental step back at every decision. By pausing a moment to think through the situation and the choices presented, we allow ourselves to affirm who we are in Christ. When we focus on the person we want to be, it becomes far easier to make the right decision. Instead of blurting out a rash word, we can instead temper our speech with patience and love. When faced with temptation we will be able to turn the other way and remove ourselves from the situation. When we choose Christ over our own selfish desires, we learn to walk in the way that He did. Our steps may be small, but they are steps nonetheless.

It’s so simple, yet we make it so difficult. We love Jesus and wish to do things that would please Him. That choice is always up to us. Outside of very rare and extraordinary circumstances, no one is ever forced to sin. You and I both choose to sin; we are not coerced but are rather acting with selfish motives. Somehow we have become convinced that a moment of satisfaction on earth is worth more than choosing to remain faithful to the One who gave His life for us.

The question really comes down to “Do we really love Him?” No one intentionally hurts the one they love. If we find ourselves consistently choosing to sin, then the validity of our love for Jesus must be called into question. We cannot love Him and work against Him at the same time. Each of us must personally ask where our loyalty lies. Will we side with our Creator and Savior, or will we indulge our selfish desires? Our answer will have eternal consequences. Jesus told us plainly that we cannot serve two masters; we will hate the one and love the other (Matthew 6:24). I would much rather be accused of hating life on this earth than despising Jesus Christ. He is our hope and without Him we are lost.

When you are tempted to sin, remember that you know the right thing to do; you know the choice you should make. Whether or not you choose correctly is a reflection on who and what you value. We will either live for Christ or live for ourselves. Live life with your eyes wide open; walk slowly and speak even slower. It is imperative that we give ourselves the opportunity to turn away from temptation and to respond to every situation in a manner that will bring a smile to the face of Jesus. We know the right thing to do and the choice is up to us. Don’t live your life for things that at best bring temporal pleasure. Live for the One who can free your soul and give you eternal peace. Choose the right way, the way that leads to life. Love Jesus and serve others; choose to walk His way.

Zealous for God

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We read much in scripture about zeal. In Psalm 69, David speaks of the zeal of God consuming him despite all the calamities that were being inflicted upon him. Psalm 119 finds the author literally worn out by his zeal; he is exhausted by a righteous anger over those who have forsaken the teachings of the Lord. In the New Testament, Paul writes in Galatians that it is good to be zealous for the right things (Galatians 4:18).

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The book of Titus states that God’s people will be zealous to do good works. Finally, in the book of Revelation, Jesus Himself tells us to be zealous and repent. Different versions of the Bible translate the word zealous as earnest, eager or committed. The point is that we should diligently strive to do the good works that Christ has given us to do.

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Our Daily Walk

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On a day to day basis, how often are you focused on clearly living a life that reflects Jesus? Do you consistently weigh your words and measure your actions by the character of Christ? When you lie down at night reflecting on your day, do you see a life that looks like Jesus? Our daily activities speak volumes about our heart. We profess to love Christ and swear He is our Lord, but we lead unremarkable lives that bear a far greater resemblance to the societal norm than to the holiness of God; there is a disconnect between our words and our actions that we must discover and overcome.

In my own life, I am sick of the hypocrisy that is my walk. Like the apostle Paul, I do the things I don’t want to do while the things I want to do get left undone (Romans 7:15, 19). It doesn’t matter whether we commit what are perceived to be small sins or large sins; any time spent engaged in activity not honoring Christ is time we are wasting. Time is not redeemable; we have what we have and then it is gone. Every wasted moment vanishes forever and we find ourselves one breath closer to death. It is urgent and imperative that we focus every second of our lives on Christ. Every day must be viewed as a new opportunity to reflect His love to others, while every night should be cherished as a time to bask in His presence and peace. Our time grows ever shorter and there are so many who still have never heard.

One life – yours or mine – can make a significant difference in our world. We never know what effect a simple act of kindness or a gentle word will have. You might bring hope to the one who will go on to discover a cure for cancer or to someone who will simply “pay it forward” and offer help to one who is homeless. We never know what God will do with one seemingly insignificant act on our part. Never pass up an opportunity to share some kindness; remember to always reflect the love of Christ in every moment of your day.

The effort required to fully seize each moment is not trivial; it requires discipline and focus. We may never perfectly achieve the goal, but every second that we grasp for the glory of God is one more second than we had previously embraced. Moment by moment we develop a life that looks like Jesus and reflects His love and glory to those around us. The world does not need more lip service Christians; the world needs followers of Jesus who are willing to devote their lives to loving God and serving others. Imagine the impact on the nations if only those who profess Jesus as their Savior would engage their world as a disciple of Christ. Poverty would be eradicated, crime rates would plummet and homelessness would become a thing of the past. Racial tensions would fade into history, and justice would reign across the planet. That this is not happening rests solely at our feet. It is we who call ourselves Christians that are failing to act; we are the ones who are choosing lives of contentment over lives of passion and action. It is we who will one day face our God and be asked to give an accounting for the way in which we spent our time.

What are you doing today that reflects the love of God? How are you spending your time? These are questions we all must ask ourselves every day. I confess that more days than not I am inconsistent in my walk. I have flashes of brilliance wherein I reflect the love of Christ, but they are couched between periods of darkness when I am self-absorbed and serving no kingdom purpose. You and I must overcome our inconsistencies and through God’s strength learn to discipline ourselves to live a life that reflects the love of Jesus to a dark and dying world. To this we are all called; it is the will of God for the life of every one of us. Before you leave your house today, prayerfully determine that you will reflect Jesus to every single person you encounter. Walk boldly through your world with the knowledge that the love of Christ is spilling out from you; feel His power course through your veins and seek opportunities to serve someone in need. Every moment will be won for Christ or lost to the enemy. Determine to live the life you promised to Christ. Seize the moment and save the day. The world needs you to live out your commitment. Together let us live our calling to love God and serve others. Enough of Christianity; let’s live as followers of Christ.