Even If i Walk Alone

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

Daily Life

Embrace Lent

by

Lent is a season of (roughly) 40 days leading up to Easter and celebrated by various denominations within the Christian faith. I am never interested in having a debate over whether a particular style of worship, liturgy, ritual, or tradition is pleasing to God. I’m happy to talk about Jesus all day long, but outside of Him, I’d say if it brings you closer to God, then do it. If it doesn’t, don’t. The differences in our traditions don’t offend me.

embrace lent,lent,lenten,Lenten season,discipline,commitment,priorities

image © iweta0077 via Fotolia

I heard Bob Hartman, the guitarist and main songwriter for the legendary Christian band Petra, once say, “Don’t criticize the way someone else worships God because God might like it!” I grew up in a Protestant household where Lent was not celebrated. As I’ve grown older and developed my own relationship with Christ, I have slowly come to embrace Lent and the beauty of the season.

[Read more…] about Embrace Lent

Live Through Us

by

I recently heard David Platt share a quote that requires a lot of contemplation. He asked the question, “Is Jesus living in me or through me?” The difference between the two is huge. We live in a culture of casual Christianity, led to believe all we have to do is say a magical prayer and Jesus will come to live within us.

live through us,david platt,discipleship,commitment,priorities,mission,great commission,Matthew 28:16-20,go ye therefore into,salvation,peace,love

image © hikdaigaku86 via Fotolia

Even if such teaching were true (and I believe there are compelling arguments to be made it is not), inviting Jesus into your heart is not the point. Unless and until we allow Jesus to live through us, we will be missing out on all the power and peace He intends for us.

[Read more…] about Live Through Us

Forget the Past

by

We as a people spend an inordinate time thinking about the past. Some even spend their days living in the past, desperate to recapture elements from their youth. For disciples of Jesus, I have a word of admonition: forget the past. Forget everything you’ve done. Instead, I want you to focus on what you will do both at this moment, and from this moment. It’s a lesson I am still learning but desperately want to master.

forget the past,forget past,identity,lordship of Jesus,mission,discipleship,abandon yourself to God,focus,commitment

image © Gabriele Rohde via Fotolia

What we’ve done up until this moment matters little to our life going forward. Sure, we may have laid the groundwork for future work. There’s definite value in this. But with the knowledge every second may be our last, I submit focusing on what we will do from this moment forward is far more valuable than what we’ve done before.

[Read more…] about Forget the Past

Time is Running Out

by

I awoke in the middle of the night, crushed by the reality of the fact time is running out. I am fifty years old now. My life is, in all probability, more than half over and time is running out. Time to tell others about Jesus. Time to do all Christ has given me to do. Time for me to further the mission of God. For all of it, time is running out and I am squandering it moment by moment, breath by breath.

time is running out,finiteness,finite,death,dying,running out of time,commitment,priorities,purpose,time,mission

image © harshvardhan via Fotolia

How did I get here? I remember the zeal of a man whose sole focus was to reflect and glorify His Creator. Where is He now? Time is running out, and I desperately need to find him.

[Read more…] about Time is Running Out

The Letdown

by

It’s a weighty thing to letdown the God of the Universe. Yet we do it every day. Of course, God in His infinite, unsurpassable, incomprehensible love would never tell us we let Him down. But we know it. We know it in our bones. We know it in our souls. We know it in our hearts. We let Him down. We failed Him. We acted in a way unbecoming of a child of the King. And we’ll do it again.

letdown,discipline,commitment,child of the King,Creator of the universe,God's love,love,mercy,grace

image © dtiberio via Fotolia

The moments following a letdown are sobering and strangely clarifying. We see what we should have done and what we did not. We become aware of an opportunity missed, never again to be revisited. And we’ll do it again. How can this be so?

[Read more…] about The Letdown