Even If i Walk Alone

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

God on a Leash

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I recently heard Daron Earliwine preach a sermon where he relayed a story about having to keep his new puppy on a leash when they walk. After giving it some thought, he surmised that the reason he keeps his new pal on a leash is because he doesn’t trust him.  They haven’t developed the level of trust where Daron can rely on his dog to stay with him in every circumstance. Since the dog can’t be fully trusted, Daron feels safer keeping him on a leash where he can exercise a modicum of control over his actions. His point was that we often treat God in the same way. We keep Him on a leash, so to speak, because we don’t fully trust Him. Let me explain a bit further.

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Pride

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A.W. Tozer once said that “The proud man cannot worship God any more than the proud devil can worship God.” Pride is a relationship killer. When we love someone, we make everything about them. Pride makes everything about us. The only relationship that thrives in the midst of pride is the narcissistic one we have with ourselves.  If we would follow Christ with all of our hearts then we must love as He did (John 15:12). We must be humble as He was. There is no room for pride in our relationship with God. We’ve got to let go of every feeling of self-sufficiency and rely fully on His character and promise of provision (Matthew 6:25-34).

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The Art of Self-Denial

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There are a few extremes that people hold to on the topic of self-denial. I think A.W. Tozer said it best: “The meaning of self-denial is not an infliction of personal torment nor penance, but it is simply the giving up of the very principle of living for ourselves. It is completely changing the direction of our being and will, so that no longer in any sense do we act with reference to how anything will affect us, but our one thought is how it will affect God or others.” Self-denial then is not principally about doing less for ourselves, but rather doing more for God.

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Choose

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Jesus lives inside of each of us who choose to believe in and follow Him. This isn’t news to most of us who profess faith in Jesus Christ and in the holy, loving character of God. But how often do we live as if this is an absolute truth? We feel alone, yet our Creator is always with us in the very core of our beings; He is so close that He is actually inside of us. We feel powerless, yet all of the power of God Himself resides within our very being. More tragic still, we live as if Christ is not only absent, but as if we don’t believe in the things He said or even who He said He was.

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Stare at God

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What if we stared at God every moment of our day? The Bible tells us we should fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2), but how often do we make a conscious effort to do that?  More importantly, what does that look like in real life? I’ve recently been trying to work this out for myself. The key is to first get a proper mental image of God. Check out Revelation 4:8-11, where it describes angels who do nothing but praise God, all day. They are so consumed with His beauty that they can do nothing else. God is the perfection of all that is good. He is perfect and unconditional love, and is constantly in pursuit of you, reaching out to you.  Look at Isaiah 6:3-5, where the prophet feels ruined just from looking at the beauty of God. Keep that picture of God at the forefront of your mind.

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