Even If i Walk Alone

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

The Music of Your Life

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Music has always played a significant role in our society, and it has long impacted my own life. Lyrics can lift you up or bring you low; differing chords and notes can cause your mind to soar or your eyes to weep. The simple notes of a piano can invade your deepest thoughts, while the soaring wail of a guitar can pierce your soul. Beyond the strains of melody, the lyrical message of a song can move you to action or trap you in despair. Perhaps nothing has a greater influence on our mood than a song we hear on the radio or find playing in our head.

One of the most revered songwriters of the past forty years or so was John Lennon. Many people took his words almost as a gospel for their lives. Sadly, too many of us can relate to the lyrics of his 1981 song, “Watching the Wheels”. Take a look at a few lines:

“People say I’m lazy dreaming my life away”

“I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll”

“I tell them there’s no hurry
I’m just sitting here doing time”

When I was younger, I remember relishing the words of this song. They seemed to depict such an easy going life, one without cares or worry. For followers of Jesus, however, these words are poison. They speak of a lackadaisical life, a life focused on ease and comfort. While I’m certain there are times in each of our lives when we just want to stop all the motion around us and play spectator for awhile, this is not an option if we are seriously committed to carrying out the mission of Christ. Contrast Lennon’s words with those of a more recent talented songwriter, Matthew West:

“I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything?
Instead of going through the motions”

This should be the cry of every heart that loves Jesus. We should never be content with sitting still and “watching the world go by”. Jesus called us to be people of action. His first word of what has come to be known as the great commission was, “Go”. Jesus never commanded His followers to sit still and do nothing. He commanded them to be busy doing the same work that they had seen Him doing. We are not called to be assimilated into the culture of our day; we are called to be different and to reflect the love of Christ to a dark and bitter world. We have all been created with different gifts and passions so that we might share the message of Jesus with everyone we encounter. If we are content to simply go through the motions, we will never experience the power of God in our lives and the world will be deprived of the song we have been given to sing.

Recently I have been very moved by the lyrics of another young songwriter named Josh Wilson. Here are some words from his song, “I Refuse”:

“I don’t want to live like I don’t care.
I don’t want to say another empty prayer.
Oh, I refuse to
Sit around and wait for someone else
To do what God has called me to do myself.
Oh, I could choose
Not to move but I refuse.”

I want those words to be the prayer of my life. I never want to take a pass on the things God has given me to do. As followers of Jesus we should always seek to be proactive in carrying out the mission of Christ. We already have our marching orders, it is our duty to carry them out and follow through.

What will be the song of your life? Will you be content to simply watch the world pass by in front of your eyes or will you refuse to leave the work to someone else and throw yourself into the great adventure of following Jesus? At the end of your life will you stand before God with the music of His love bursting from deep within or will you, in the words of Emerson, die with the music still in you? We all must choose to live life either as a passive spectator or an active participant being the hands and feet of Jesus. The choice is simple, the implementation is not. Don’t be content with going through the motions and simply watching the wheels go ‘round and ‘round; refuse to be idle and wait for someone else to do what God has given you to do. Share the song He has given you while there is still time to let your life sing. May the love of Jesus resonate loudly from deep within your soul; let this be the music of your life.

Finding Your Purpose

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One of the most common causes of consternation among Christians is trying to determine God’s will for their life. We’ve discussed this previously, but I was recently struck with a different take on the subject. Countless books and articles have tackled this subject, but I believe they have come at if from the wrong angle. Recently I’ve been reading Erwin McManus’ “Chasing Daylight” again, and it provided the framework for my thinking. The first thing that we need to recognize is that God doesn’t have some massive blueprint for each of our lives. Believing that God has every twist and turn in your life mapped out for you eliminates the Biblical concept of freewill. For an excellent discussion on this, I recommend “Decision Making and the Will of God” by Garry Friesen or “Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views” by Greg Boyd, William Lane Craig, Paul Eddy and James Beilby. With this as our starting point, I believe there are three steps to finding your purpose. Ask yourself the following questions:

  • What are my passions? Remember when you were younger and had visions of grandeur? We all dreamed dreams that were far bigger than ourselves and had goals of someday becoming something of note in this world. In our imaginations, we could be anything we wanted to be. As we grew older we were told that dreams were for children and we needed to focus on what we were really going to do with our lives. It seems to be the mission of those who have failed to live their dreams to quash the dreams of others as well. The passions and dreams we used to feel are what God has instilled in us. Our dreams are what make us unique from everyone else. Each of us was created for a purpose, a purpose that God carefully planted inside of us. If time and money was no object, what is it that you would most want to do? In the deepest depths of your heart, what is it that drives you? Make a note of each of your passions.

  • What are my skills? In addition to passions, God has given each of us a set of skills and gifts to be used for His Glory. People with low self esteem often disregard this question, assuming they are not good at anything and therefore have no skills. The fact is, we are indeed all gifted, we simply have not taken the time to reflect and discover all that we have to offer. Some are leaders, teachers, care-givers, good listeners, handy, a good cook or have a knack for dealing with certain age groups; the list could go on and on. Spiritual gifts and personal skills are very closely related. If you are aware of your spiritual gifts, I would encourage you to make a list of all the skills associated with that particular set of gifts. If you aren’t certain what your spiritual gifts are, there are several resources (many are free) available to help you discover your gifts. Email me at [email protected] if you would like a list.

  • Finally, ask how you can use your passions and your skills to best allow you to fulfill God’s will. Instead of asking what His will is for our life, we need to be asking how we can use our lives to accomplish His will. We know what His will is; He wills that none would perish, that none would go hungry or be treated unjustly. This is the will of God; He longs for unity and justice among all people. He commands us to love Him with all of our heart, soul and mind. He commands us to love others as much as we love ourselves, to treat them as we wish to be treated (Matthew 22:35-38). His mission for all who would follow Him is to tell everyone about His love and to demonstrate that love through our own lives. Looking back over your passions and skills, how might you utilize those to tell others about Christ or demonstrate His love to them? How could you use your passions and gifts to bring peace to a situation or to alleviate injustice or serve the poor? This is what following Jesus is all about; again, it’s not asking what His will is for our life but rather discovering how we can use our life to bring about His will.

Each person’s combination of passions and skills is unique, so it is difficult to give concrete examples in this limited space. I’d love to help anyone who struggles with determining how they can use what they have to fulfill the will of God. Leave a comment below describing your unique blend of dreams and gifts and I’ll respond with some real world ideas of how you might use them for God’s glory. If you prefer privacy, email me at [email protected]. I’d love to help. Knowing the will of God is as simple as living out His Word and reflecting His love to others; we all have been uniquely gifted to do so. Stop stressing over what it is God wants you to do with your life, and start living in the freedom of using your life to accomplish His will.

Developing Zeal

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Recently I wrote a post on being zealous for God, and a reader asked how one goes about getting this zeal. It’s a great question that I thought would be worth exploring further. Zeal is not something that can be artificially manufactured. It can be fanned into a flame by many sources, but the seed of it is organic and must rise up from within you. For the purpose of our discussion, that seed is a love for Jesus and a desire to serve Him. If we truly want to serve Him above all else, we have the makings of a zealous person. The question then becomes how to fan our innermost desire into a consuming passion that engulfs us in our daily lives. There are many facets to the answer, and certainly the “how” will vary somewhat given each individual personality; I’ve put together some ideas below that have been useful in my own life.

• Get to know the character of God. Nothing develops zeal faster than learning about who God is. Reading the Bible with the intention of getting to know Him and seeing the way He has worked through history allows us to see how truly Awesome and Holy He is. Most of us tend to read the Bible to try and find out how it applies to our own lives. Ultimately, however, the Bible is not a book about us; it’s the story of God and His love for those He created. Like any relationship, if we don’t spend time learning about the other person, we will soon become disinterested. Don’t be content to learn all you know about God from a Sunday morning sermon. Dig in and discover the character of your Creator. Learn what drives Him, what angers Him and what inspires Him. Pray constantly, talking to Him as you would your closest friend. God is not afraid of your questions, your honesty, or your anger. He longs for you to learn more about Him and is a patient teacher. Ask Him to reveal His very essence to you and never stop praying and reading to learn more about who He is.

• Read inspiring material. It cannot be overstated how great an influence reading has on your mind. If we read depressing material, we will find ourselves discouraged even if we have no actual reason to feel that way. If we read books that teach concepts contrary to the teaching of Christ, we will find our minds consumed with those thoughts rather than thoughts of God. It is nearly impossible to be zealous for God if your mind is not consistently and wholly focused on Him. By reading inspiring articles and books, words that are uplifting and point to Jesus, you will find yourself developing a positive attitude; someone with a positive attitude is far more likely to see possibilities. When we begin to dream of what is possible, we become inspired to take action. Taking action is what zeal is all about; we cannot help but move.

• Be intentional with what you allow to influence you. Just as reading has a profound influence on your life, so too does what you listen to, what you watch, and those with whom you associate. Music is powerful and can easily lift one to the heights of worship; on the flip side it can bring you to the depths of despair. We need to guard against anything that leads our thoughts away from God. This isn’t a statement against any particular type of music, but rather just a warning to take notice of how certain songs affect you. The same can be said for television and movies. The windows are the eyes of the soul, so be careful what you feed your innermost being. In our modern age, we are bombarded with images at an unprecedented rate every day. Most of the images are not designed to draw us closer to God, and many of them will do the exact opposite. To be zealous we must keep our hearts and minds clean and focused on Christ. In the same way, those with whom you associate hold great influence over you. We must be intentional in choosing our friends. If we surround ourselves with those who are intent on pursuing what the world has to offer, we will find ourselves carried along for the ride. Instead, choose to associate with those who are seeking God, with people who are passionately pursuing Jesus. Hanging out with zealous people will develop zeal in your own life in a somewhat passive manner because zeal is highly contagious!

• Become active in causes that are close to the heart of God. As you learn more about the character of God, immerse yourself in causes that work towards fulfilling His mission on earth. Jesus said to care for the poor, so get involved with ministries and organizations that work to alleviate hunger and poverty. Since God detests injustice, become an advocate for the oppressed. As you give yourself to become the hands and feet of Jesus, your character will align with God’s. As your heart begins to beat in rhythm with His, you will be consumed with desiring Him more and more. This is where passion is born. This is the seed of zealousness.

The ideas listed above are far from exhaustive, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on developing zeal for God. What have been the turning points in your life, the “a-ha moments” that pushed you deeper in your relationship with Him? It is through the sharing of ideas that we will all grow closer to our Lord. Let me know how these suggestions work for you, and let’s pray for one another that we might all grow in our zeal for the One who gave His life so that we might live. Seek Jesus only and always and you will discover your own passion and zeal for following Him.

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?