Even If i Walk Alone

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

Master of Distraction

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For Christ followers, I am convinced that the source of all our discouragement, frustration, and depression is the result of taking our focus off of Jesus. As soon as we revert to our selfish nature, looking at ourselves instead of Him, everything starts to go a bit haywire. Each of us has been uniquely designed by God. We have all been given talents, skills, and passions to use to further His Kingdom. When we begin to live in ways that are not consistent with whom we were created to be, we slip and wander.

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image © Marc Xavier

Satan does everything he can to cause this to happen. He tempts us with visions of a better, safer, or easier life. He entices us to fill our lives with things other than Christ. He is the master of distraction, and if we give in to his lies, we will find ourselves frustrated, discouraged, and perhaps even sinking into the depths of depression.
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We Categorize What We Fear

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Fear categorizes. Perfect love casts out fear. Therefore there is no categorization in love. We categorize people we fear. We categorize them as terrorists, homosexuals, liberals, conservatives, etc. When we categorize them, it means we do not love them. When we don’t love them, we are not living in the way Jesus instructed us.

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image © Ashley van Dyck – Fotolia

In fact we are living in a way that is totally opposed to the way Jesus did. That’s a dangerous place to be.  If we love everyone we will fear no one. Love, as God defines it, is indiscriminate and unconditional. The groups of people we are most likely to categorize are also those whom we have the most difficulty loving.
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Imitating Jesus

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The goal of every Christ follower is to live as He did. When others look at us, there should be no doubt that we are imitating Jesus. While I don’t have the data to back it up, I’m confident most people who are truly passionate about Jesus would agree with that. I am just as confident that most of us have no idea what that really means.

imitating Jesus,mission,mission of Jesus,God's character,the truth about God,commitment,discipleship,Matthew 8:20

image © Christin Lola – Fotolia

I know that because if we did, we wouldn’t be confusing Christianity with the American dream.  Do you really want to know what it looks like to imitate Jesus? It’s all right there in the New Testament of the Bible.
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Countercultural

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In a recent sermon, Greg Boyd said, “You can’t live out the Kingdom and not be countercultural.” Living the way Jesus lived will make you stand out from the crowd. You’ll definitely look weird compared to the standards of your society. Of course, for those of us who have committed our lives to serve Christ, we don’t mind the long stares, awkward conversations, or sometimes outright hostility.

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image © WavebreakmediaMicro – Fotolia

We understand it comes with the territory and realize the mission of Jesus is far more important than any of that. Still, too many professing Christians want to build God’s kingdom, but they want to build their own along the way.
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Heaven on Earth

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“Jesus didn’t come just to die for your sins. He came to teach you how live a full, earthy, gritty, and marvelous life.” Hugh Halter wrote that in his powerful book, “Flesh: Learning to Be Human Like Jesus”.  Later in the book, Mr. Halter asks the poignant question, “If someone were to ask you, ‘What is the gospel?’ what would you say? How much of your answer would reflect the afterlife, and how much would reflect this life?”

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image © denis_333 – Fotolia

We Christians have arguably become well accomplished at selling the benefits of Heaven. We can describe the horrors of Hell and then the wonders of Heaven, which should make following Jesus a no-brainer for anyone, right? The problem is that this type of evangelism has little precedent in the teachings of Jesus Himself.
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