Even If i Walk Alone

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

1 Thessalonians

God’s Call to Holiness

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God’s call to holiness is not optional for any believer. Holiness is the standard God set for us in the beginning and continues to expect from us (Leviticus 19:2; 1 Peter 1:15–16). When we love the Father, we will desire to do what pleases Him because we all want to be counted like Paul when we die (2 Timothy 4:7).

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We all want to run the race well and hear Jesus speak the words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant; enter into my rest” (Matthew 25:21). We dare not approach Heaven with stained garments uncleansed by the sacrificial blood of Christ (Hebrews 10:10). Sanctification always follows true repentance, so if we aren’t concerned with holiness, it is hard to conceive of our repentance as genuine.

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Quiet Humility

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It’s the slow, steady rhythms that will lead us to look more like Christ. So many want to do “big things for God,” yet they’ve never mastered the small disciplines the Lord desires most. We learn about so-called “celebrity Christians” crashing and burning with alarming regularity. In a previous post, I posited the question pondering if there should even be such a thing as “celebrity Christians.”

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I am convinced the answer is an unequivocal and emphatic “NO!” It seems everyone wants a platform or to be an influencer these days. I understand why those with a secular worldview would desire such things, but it baffles me why Christians would seek these things as well. Whatever happened to living lives of quiet humility (1 Thessalonians 4:9–12)?

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The Cross

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When was the last time you contemplated the cross of Christ? We love to think about and glory in the resurrection of Jesus and all that it implies, but we are less comfortable thinking about the cross. Of course, there could have been no resurrection except for the cross. Our sanitized Sunday School versions of Christ’s death tend to hide the horrors of the crucifixion.

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On top of the slow suffocation of hanging nailed to a tree, Jesus first suffered an intense and brutal beating at the hands of men trained to keep someone a breath away from their death. The horror of the beatings and crucifixion of Christ are but a shadow of the pain we cause our holy God every time we sin against Him.

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Get Ready

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Jesus is coming back and we better get ready. Scripture makes it clear that His coming will be unexpected (Matthew 24:36). It’s going to shock everyone because we aren’t living our lives in eager anticipation of His return (1 Thessalonians 5:2-6). Since you got out of bed this morning, how many times have you thought about the fact that this could be it? You might see Jesus in the very next minute!

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Most days, we would have to answer that we have given little thought to it at all. Sure, on an intellectual level we recognize the possibility He could come back today, but that’s a far cry from eagerly anticipating it (Philippians 3:19-21)! Why are we not more excited about the coming of our salvation? Is it because we’ve become enamored with this world?

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A Living Sacrifice

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Are you living your life as a living sacrifice to God (Romans 12:1)? It is what God commands us to do, but how many of us understand what this means, much less are doing it? Jesus gave His life for us, a perfect sinless sacrifice for every sin we have ever or will ever commit. His death was the sacrifice needed to assuage God’s wrath over our sins (Isaiah 53:5-6; 1 John 2:2; Romans 5:8-9).

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His sacrifice became the model for how each of us is to conduct their lives (1 Peter 2:21; Ephesians 5:1-2). We aren’t perfect and never will be. At the same time, we are called to be holy, just as He is holy (Leviticus 11:45; 1 Peter 1:15-16). There aren’t some commands of God that we can take seriously and others we can disregard. If we love Him, we will keep all His commands (John 14:15; 1 John 2:3-6).

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