Even If i Walk Alone

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

Following the Way

by

Regular readers of this blog know we talk a lot about love.  We talk a lot about following Christ.  It’s easy to say we love people, and perhaps easy even to think we are following Christ, but what does this really mean?  What does following Christ look like in the daily grind of our lives?

If we would truly follow Christ, one of the biggest shifts we need to experience is the way we see events unfolding around us.  Instead of blaring our horn and cursing the driver who just cut us off, we need our first instinct to be to pray for that driver.  Pray for their protection and others as they drive erratically.  Pray for the person themselves… perhaps they have had a horrible day and that’s why they are behaving as they are.  Perhaps they need someone to love them; pray God would send someone into their life to show them love.  Instead of driving by someone who has car trouble, we need to instead see what we can do to help.  Watch for people in the grocery store for whom you might be able to buy some groceries.  Take a walk around your neighborhood.  Are there lawns that need mowing, any obvious outside repairs you could assist with?  All of these random acts of love come at a cost; some may cost us financially, but all will cost us our time.  All will require sacrifice and unselfishness.  To put it another way, all these acts will require love.

Therein lies the rub.  Most of us would agree that we want to be the people who do the acts described above.  But how many of us take the time to be that person?  How many of us discipline ourselves to think before we act or before we speak?  How many of us are willing to put our own agendas aside to truly be the hands and feet of Jesus?  When it comes down to it we still struggle with our own self importance and selfishness.  We would rather love ourselves, so to speak, rather than give that love to others.  Jesus showed the perfect example of a selfless life.  Look at how often He interrupted His day to take the time to touch someone in need.  This never disturbed His agenda, because His agenda was love.  Until our agenda becomes one of showing love to others, of serving others in ways big and small, we will continue to see people as an interruption.  People were not an interruption to Jesus, they were His mission.  If we are to follow the way of Jesus, they will be our mission as well.

Are we willing to give up our plans and dreams to follow Christ?  We cannot claim to be a follower of Christ and have a mission that is different from His.  Our own dreams must be able to exist in parallel with loving and serving others or those dreams must be put aside.  If the heart and purpose of our dreams is not loving and serving others, then we are not followers of Christ.  We will be like those mentioned in Matthew, where we say “Lord, did we not prophesy and cast out demons in Your name?”, and He will say those crushing words: “Depart from Me, because I don’t know you.” (Matthew 7:13-23)  Knowing who Christ is is not enough.  Believing in Christ is not enough; even demons believe in Jesus and know who He is (James 2:19).  We must follow Him with all that we are, and that means taking every opportunity to love and serve others.  Check your mission today.  Is it in line with the way of Christ?  If not, begin correcting your course immediately.  Realign your life and schedule to be in sync with God’s mission.  Seize every opportunity to love and serve those around you; make that your agenda in life.  Do this and you will truly be a follower of Christ.

Press On

by

When is enough, enough?  When can we cease all our work and let someone else pick up the slack?  As workers for the Kingdom, we are not allowed the concept of quitting.  We are to work until our King returns or brings us to join Him.  For me, the purpose for my writing is the hope that I may touch another with the love of Christ.  I can never stop writing, because there will always be the possibility that I may yet touch another.   We can never cease to love because we will ever have the opportunity to love still another.

Following Christ can be both exhilarating and utterly exhausting.  We have to be on our game twenty-four hours a day.  We cannot afford to relax our standards or forsake our mission for even a minute, because that may be the very moment someone needs to see a difference in us.  As I have stated before, we make decisions every second of every minute of every hour of every day.  We choose to follow Christ or not.  We choose to love or not to love.  We choose to serve or not to serve.  Our second by second choices add up to define our lives.  Fortunately (or not in some cases) we have the opportunity to start redefining our life every single second.  Determine right now to start making the right choices when life comes at you: follow Christ, love and serve others.

The brilliant dichotomy of this exhausting challenge is that as we do these things we will be overwhelmed with a peace and rest that we could never achieve on our own.  God renews us in the most amazing and pure way.  If you are feeling run down and exhausted, chances are you aren’t making the proper choices in your life.  When you start loving and serving others you lose your self-centeredness, and this selfishness is perhaps the most exhausting element in our lives.  I have found that it is far more tiring to try and make my life comfortable and easy than it is to serve someone else.

We aren’t called to comfortable and easy, we are called to a life of serving others.  We are to serve others just as Jesus served us by humbling Himself and ultimately laying down His life for us.  Who do you love with a love like that?  Anyone?  Jesus loves everyone with that same amazing love.  He never stops, He never quits.  We can do no less.  The next time you grow weary, instead of resorting to your usual forms of comfort, try looking around and showing love to someone else instead.  When you feel lonely and in need of help, try serving someone else.  You will find the most illogical yet most exhilarating peace you have ever known.  Remember that there will always be someone else in need of love, there will always be someone else we can serve.  We must not quit, we must not tire.  With a set and limited amount of time to share love with others, we can’t afford to waste a second.

Poison in the Well

by

There are things in all of our lives that we would rather not deal with.  We procrastinate or even outright ignore them in hopes they might somehow just disappear.  Confronting difficult circumstances or individuals is uncomfortable and quite messy.  Yet if we are to be able to fully manifest Christ to others, we need to get rid of what’s poisoning our own hearts.  Resentment, anger, guilt, whatever your issues might be, these all hinder us from living a life that looks like Christ.  This isn’t a 12 step program in a blog; the answers to the issues you face are as unique as the issues themselves.  There is, however, a common thread that weaves through any challenge we face:  We cannot be rid of a problem until we confront it.  Avoiding an issue only makes it bigger and its hold on us stronger.  Facing the issue breaks that hold and causes it to wilt before our very eyes.

The good news is that dealing with our so-called demons is almost always less painful than what we imagine.  For some reason we have been conditioned to always expect the worst possible result of confronting our fears.  Yes, I believe the dreaded F-word (‘fear’, for those who missed it!) is at the heart of all our struggles.  We put up with trials in our life because it’s simply easier than the alternative.  We allow friendships to die over some old argument because it’s easier than calling that person and talking about what has come between you.  We stay at a job we hate because it’s easier and safer than going to look for another.  Worst of all, we don’t tell someone about Christ because it’s much more comfortable to let someone else do it.

It all comes down to fear.   Fear poisons our hearts and prevents us from living in the power of Christ.  Fear cannot stand under the scrutiny of love.  What are you harboring inside?  What’s poisoning you?  What are you afraid of?  Have you forgotten that we serve the most powerful being in the universe?  Is having a difficult conversation beyond His power?  Is looking for a new job something He would not understand?  Is risking ridicule to tell someone about the love of Christ too great for the creator of love to overcome?  It’s foolish when we take the time to step back and examine our fears; our fear becomes incredibly irrational in the light of His love and power.

Dare we face our fears?  Dare we rely on Jesus to provide the strength we need?  Is your faith big enough to believe that His power is sufficient to overcome any fear you may have?  We need to stop letting the poison of fear fill our veins.  It’s time to stop ignoring the issues, start confronting the fears and letting the power of Christ flow through us to reach those in need.  There is no room for fear in a heart filled with love.  Confront your fear today, but do so in His power.  Talk to that person, take that step, and risk your comfort.  Christ did all this for us; our obligation is to respond in kind.

Awake?

by

Within the prologue of the “Rules of Saint Benedict”, we find the following admonishment:  “Let us get up then, at long last, for the Scriptures rouse us when they say: It is high time for us to arise from sleep. Let us open our eyes to the light that comes from God, and our ears to the voice from heaven that every day calls out this charge: If you hear His voice today, do not harden your hearts.”  It is this challenge we are called to live out every single day.  It is in this challenge we become victorious through Christ.

Are you asleep?  Are you awake but still groggy from all that has happened in your life so far?  We are called to arise from sleep, to look out at the world and see those hurting around us.  Look at all those souls without any hope, without any love.  Do you see these people in the world around you?  How often do we take the time to stop, listen and give of ourselves?  We too often walk on by those in need.  We are busy, yes consumed even, by our own thoughts and pursuits.  How many do we walk by everyday in the grocery store, at our place of work or even in our own neighborhoods?  We are sleepwalking through life and we are missing the opportunities to love someone in Jesus’ name.  Being a follower of Christ means to follow at all times no matter what that might look like or where it may lead.  There is perhaps no greater tragedy than to profess Jesus with our lips and then to close our eyes.

Have you said ‘no’ to God lately?  Are you saying ‘no’ to Him right now?  Every time we are compelled to love someone in His name and do not do it, we say ‘no’ to Christ, the one who gave His life for us.  Being a follower of Jesus isn’t about saying a magical prayer or getting dunked in a pool of water.  It’s a call to a radical lifestyle of love.  It’s a call to put away everything we once considered to be our own and to start giving to those in need.  It’s about stopping and listening to a stranger on the street rather than stopping at the usual head nod or typical “Good Morning, how are you?” greeting.  It’s about looking like Jesus to the world around you.  We must not harden our hearts to the needs of others.  This is our calling.  This is how we follow Jesus.

How are you doing at waking up and seeing the need?  Once you see that need, how are you doing at being the one that fills it?  Are you reflecting Christ in everything that you do and say?  If we would be followers of Christ then we will look different.  The Bible calls us peculiar people; I love that!  I don’t want to be normal.  Normal is self-centered and comfortable.  I want to live radically.  I want to love others and live a life restless to do so.  I want to follow Jesus.  I want to love as He loved.  Care to join me?

Take a Breath

by

Take a breath.  What are you running from?  What are you running to?  What’s it all mean anyway?  We push ourselves to the limit day after day after day in search of some peace, finding some meaning or perhaps just a little bit of hope.  Why are we so obsessed with doing when the end result turns out that nothing is getting done?  Step back.  Take a breath.

Did you ever notice that Jesus never seemed to be in a hurry?  He always had time to touch the person in need, to play with little children or to speak to the outcast.  He never seemed to script His day; He just met needs as he found them.  He knew what He was about.  He understood His core mission.  Yet He never seemed overwhelmed by what we might call intrusions on His time.  He walked in perfect peace, knowing exactly where He was headed and knowing exactly what He was going to accomplish.  Jesus wasn’t perplexed by the unexpected roadblock or stressed by opposition to His plans.

So here we are claiming to model our lives after Christ.  Reality check:  our lives look absolutely nothing like that of Jesus.  We’re fooling ourselves.  We have gotten so good at being “Christian” that we no longer seem to be followers of the Way.  We claim His Lordship but fret over the pettiest of problems.  We claim to love others like He did but seize every opportunity to go along with hurtful words and gossip.  We rush and hurry and stress and rejoice when we take five minutes out of our day to pray.  Jesus regularly got alone with God to pray.  It was central to His life, not simply something he tacked on at the end of the day as an afterthought.

Jesus took time to breathe.  He left space around all His activities.  He wasn’t afraid to rest or withdraw from everything to keep perspective.  He breathed.  When was the last time you took a breath in your life?  When was the last time you remember being so on mission that you were unbothered by the mess the day threw at you?  Have you ever been that certain of your life, your purpose?  Or like most of us do you rush about doing something – anything – to prove you are moving forward?

Take a breath.  Withdraw from everything; get rid of the cell phone and the pager.  Sit in the presence of God and just… breathe.  Ask Him to give you a vision of what your life could look like if only He truly was Lord.  Ask Him what it would look like if you were a little less of a Christian and a little more a follower and lover of Him.  And then breathe.  Feel your lungs expand and release.  Move forward with a passion of purpose.  See, really see, the needs around you and minister to them as Christ did.  In this you will find the beautiful rhythm to life that you have always sought.