Even If i Walk Alone

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

Daily Life

Doing Christmas Jesus Style

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I’m ashamed to admit that I have spent far too many hours in my life debating the usual “Christian” Christmas arguments: Jesus vs. Santa, Santa Clause or Satan Claus, and of course Christmas vs. x-mas. I was brought up to believe these were battles that we Christians had to fight; if we didn’t fight, the non-Christians would succeed in removing Christ from Christmas. I have to wonder what part of Christ’s nature we were demonstrating as we were zealously cramming our opinions down someone else’s throat. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that many of you have had these same arguments, or perhaps you still engage in them. There is, after all, something about seeing a “Merry X-Mas” sign that makes ones blood boil. How we respond is vital to our ultimate goal of following the way of Jesus. When we engage others in these types of conversations, are we demonstrating love toward them? Are we making it clear that God highly values them, that Christ died for them? Or are we simply concerned with winning the argument? What are our motives in iscussions such as these? Is it righteous anger or self-righteous one-upmanship?

I submit that regardless of our motives, we are missing the point entirely by engaging in these arguments. Let’s put aside the fact that research seems to indicate that Jesus was born in the middle of summer, making it kind of a moot point to become indignant that people aren’t celebrating Jesus’ birth on December 25th. Instead, regardless of why someone might be celebrating Christmas, how about if we simply embraced the season to shower gifts of love on everyone we meet? Yes, we should be doing this year round, but let’s face it, if you’re like me you often struggle mightily with this. We can brightly reflect the glory of God simply by living like our King. While others grumble and make snide remarks while waiting in a long line, let’s be the ones who smile, strike up positive conversations and perform little acts of kindness while you wait with everyone. Don’t be superficial, show genuine interest in the story of those around you. When driving in traffic (particularly the smash up derby lanes around the local mall), have patience and let others cut in front of you and even {gasp} let the other car have that parking space. You aren’t letting people walk all over you. Rather, you are allowing the love of Christ to flow through you. Take the time to smile and engage each cashier you deal with. Believe me; they are probably having a worse day than you are! It’s so easy to get caught up in the hustle and insanity of the season. Remember that this is not the time to join forces with the enemy, but rather to dutifully demonstrate the difference Christ can make in the life of another.

This year, let’s do Christmas differently. Let’s not get caught up in the petty and ultimately meaningless arguments that always come about this time of year. Let’s demonstrate the love of God to everyone we meet. Let’s care for the needs of those less fortunate than us. Let’s not focus on what others may define Christmas to be, and instead demonstrate what the gift of Jesus means to your life and what He can mean to theirs. Do Christmas different this year; do it Jesus style.

Attitude is Everything

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Personal development pioneer Paul J. Meyer passed away recently. He lived an amazing life and powerfully impacted many with his contagious enthusiasm and zest for life. Paul’s mantra was “Attitude is everything”, and I was reminded this week how true this is for we who seek to model our life after Jesus Christ.

It’s so easy to become distracted by the problems and concerns of our daily lives. We feel battered and stressed out from the difficult times that come into our lives. When we allow ourselves to get caught up in our problems, we take our eyes off of Jesus and put them on our self. When our eyes are on ourselves, we no longer are able to love those around us. One of the primary goals of Satan is to see that we become self –absorbed. Once he achieves that result, we are rendered essentially useless.

That’s why attitude is everything. We have eternal hope in Jesus Christ; we have more reason to celebrate than anyone. We must always remain focused on the glory of Christ and the mission He has enlisted us to carry out. Jesus is the creator of all things, and He created all things in extraordinary fashion. We are therefore, by default, extraordinary. Living a self-centered ordinary life is to reject all that we are and all we have been created to be. Extraordinary people do not live a life of mediocrity; they do not live a life devoted to their own needs. Extraordinary people live lives larger than themselves, lives dedicated to a higher purpose.

One more time, attitude is everything. As followers of Christ, we have the highest hope and we must never allow that hope to be diminished. We know how this story ends. We also know that there are many in this world without that same hope. It is our mission as Kingdom people to demonstrate the love of Christ by sharing that hope with them. When we get down, we are being ordinary. God did not create ordinary. God created extraordinary and we grieve Him whenever we neglect that which He created us to be.

The next time life begins to get the best of you, change your attitude. The next time you become discouraged or feel alone, reflect on who God created you to be. Reach inside and find that person because it exists in every one of us. We are extraordinary when we choose an attitude of love and devotion to Jesus Christ. Be extraordinary. Attitude is everything.

The Importance of Goals

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I wrote recently about moving toward your goals. Hopefully by now you have written down some goals for yourself. If not, I’d encourage you to stop right now and write down three goals for yourself… just come back when you’re done, we’ll wait! Need some help? If you could change anything about your present life, what would it be? Write it down. What do you perceive to be the greatest weakness in your pursuit of following Jesus? Write this down as well. Finally, for what do you wish to be remembered? Again, write it down. You now have three very specific goals. Congratulations, you have done more to reach your goals than have 97% of Americans, simply because you wrote down your goals.

You’ve taken the all important first step to achieving your goals. Now for the hard part: you actually are going to have to do some work to accomplish them. The first thing is to break them down into manageable size chunks, small steps that are challenging but not so daunting that you are afraid to even attempt them. So if you could change anything about your present life, what would it be? Just pick one thing. What habit would you like to stop, or perhaps what is one habit you would like to have? Let’s work out a practical example. Perhaps you wanted to start each day by praying or reading your Bible or simply sitting in silence. What are some small steps you can begin doing to make this a reality? You could perhaps start by going to bed five minutes earlier each night, or getting up five minutes earlier each morning. Do this for a week, then tack on another five minutes until you are able to get up at the time you wish in order to be able to start your day communing with God. Getting up thirty minutes or an hour earlier than you do now is a daunting task, one that you will probably quit after a day or two (if not before you even begin). On the other hand, going to be five minutes early is pretty easy. Tackle your large goals by taking small steps.

By defining the person we want to be – in writing – we set ourselves up for success in becoming that person. Do something every day that moves you toward your goals, review them often. Put notes around your house that remind you of the person you are becoming. Don’t put up reminders that describe the person you want to be, display it as if it were already true. For example, don’t write “I wish I had the courage to serve God no matter what”. Rather write down “I serve God at any cost”. Place note cards throughout your home that will remind you who you are. This will help keep you motivated and ultimately see that your goals are indeed fulfilled. With New Year’s Day fast approaching, we don’t need any more resolutions. What we need instead is written down goals. The ultimate goal is to become the person we were created to be. Don’t rob the world of all you have to offer simply because you were too lazy to set goals for your life. You were created with purpose and for a purpose. Write down your goals, break them down into smaller pieces, and see your goals through. Realize the love God has for you and work in concert with Him to create the symphony of your life.

Love in Community

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The title of this blog is “Even if I Walk Alone”. That is a statement that simply means that I have chosen to follow Christ, I have chosen to love as He did, even if no one else will join me in doing so. Ideally I will not walk this path alone; I don’t want to walk this path alone. Being prepared to walk alone should in no way be taken to mean that this is the best way to go about following Christ. A few can accomplish more than one, and the many can accomplish exponentially more than the few. Perhaps the title of this blog really should be “Even If I Walk Alone (…but I’d rather walk together!)”.

Following Jesus is a group exercise, as demonstrated by Jesus calling His twelve disciples (Matthew 10:1-16), sending out the seventy apostles (Luke 10:1-12) and establishing His desire for followers to come together(Matthew 18:19-20). There are times that God has worked through an individual, but by and large God has always worked through groups of people. In our modern society it has become very easy to be self-sufficient. Jesus never calls us to self-sufficiency; He calls us to utter reliance. We are to rely on God in all things, and this includes relying on our brothers and sisters as we all seek to follow Him. Would you rather be self-sufficient or live a life of total reliance on someone else? As someone who grew up fiercely independent, this is a hard question for me, even though I know the right answer. I want, no I need, to rely on God with all that I am. Yet so often I opt for the prideful stance of self-reliance. I take pride in my ability to handle whatever may come my way. Slowly, quietly, my confidence is being swapped out from that of myself, to knowing I can handle anything this world throws at me because of the strength of Jesus within me. It is an agonizing but wonderful process.

Another problem we face is that we tend to not keep the same community for very long. A generation ago, people generally grew up and lived out their lives in the same area. Grade school friendships persisted into the twilight of life; you knew most everyone you came into contact with and strangers were easy to spot. In our current era, we are far less likely to stay in the same city we were born in, much less the same neighborhood. College, job advancements and a quest for a better place to raise a family all contribute to a nation of virtual strangers. Even small groups in churches tend to change faces every few years. We just don’t plant ourselves anywhere anymore. Perhaps we need to give more thought to our sense of community before we move on to the next big thing. Is it possible that we can serve God better by staying put rather than taking off to chase “the American dream”, leaving behind the relationships we have established? I’m not proposing that we should all stay where we grew up, but I am saying we are quick to leave a community for generally selfish reasons without ever giving much thought to the community of believers and would-be believers that we leave behind. It should definitely play a part in our decision process.

This brings me to the community where you are now. Are you nurturing your community? Are you seeking out others with whom to build relationships? Do you even know your neighbors? Are you demonstrating love to those with whom you work or are they “just the people at the office”? We are to live in community and we are to love in community. Our free time needs to be turned into community time. If we are passionate about living a life modeled after Christ, then we must be about living in community. It’s time to put selfishness and self-sufficiency aside. We must be willing to walk this road alone, but ever seeking to walk with one another.

The People You Meet and the Books You Read

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Charlie “Tremendous” Jones once said that “You are the same today as you’ll be in five years except for two things: the books you read and the people you meet.” I submit that the same applies to our walk with Christ. Over the next five years, our growth – our ability to live a life that truly reflects and honors God – will be exactly what it is today except for the books we read and the people we meet.

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