Even If i Walk Alone

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

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The Power of God

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What if we were to suddenly cease trying to do everything in our own strength? It is common in the Western world to strive to become all we can be, to set goals and have wild aspirations. We are taught from an early age that we deserve to have the best that life has to offer, and these things can be ours if we will only work harder than everyone else. We are bombarded by advertising that encourages us to reach for the gold and shoot for the stars, and so we set out to get our fair share of all that is good in the world. Even those of us who profess to be Christians can get caught up in this whirlwind of seeking self-satisfaction. We may couch it in spiritual terminology and demonstrate it by our countless works of charity, but still we are doing these things with little use of God’s power. Humans are a remarkable creation; we have been given the mental prowess and physical capabilities to achieve great things. How often do we stop to contemplate how small our power is when compared to the Holy God of the universe? What might we accomplish for Him if we would but abandon everything and trust solely in His power?

Too often we muddy our life message by determining to follow Jesus and then attempting to do so by our own plans and means. Sure, we’ll pray for wisdom here and a blessing there, but too often these are cursory prayers that lack focus and true devotion. The way we operate should be the exact opposite. While it is somewhat antithetical to our culture, it is critical that we spend great amounts of time alone with God, crying out to Him in desperation. We must let Him know that we realize we are nothing without Him. In our own strength we can accomplish very little. We may be a great planner and an overachiever, but there is nothing we can do on our own that comes remotely close to the smallest thing we can do through His power. A life lived in reckless abandonment to Jesus Christ is a life that will shake the world with the love of Jesus.

What exactly does it mean to live a life with reckless abandon for Jesus? It means coming to the point where we recognize that our best efforts lack vitality and pale in comparison to His majestic power. It means ceasing every attempt to accomplish something on our own. Instead of working diligently and praying for His blessing, we must pray diligently and be blessed by His working. Don’t confuse what I’m saying as being an excuse to be lazy and to do no work. Following Jesus is indeed difficult work, but it’s the kind of work that leaves one feeling well satisfied at the end of the day. We simply need to become a people who pray first and act second. We often get this reversed. Instead of trying to figure out how to overcome insurmountable odds, we need to simply move forward in prayer, trusting that God in His power will remove the obstacles from our path. As long as we are following in the footsteps of Jesus, living as He lived and serving others for the sake of the Kingdom, our path will be straight before us. Nothing can stand in the wake of God.

His power is available for our consumption right now. He is waiting to live through you. A true follower of Christ not only has Jesus walking with them, but they have the Spirit of God working through them. We have spent too much of our lives relegating Jesus to the passenger seat, or worse yet, the back seat. It is high time we handed Him both the wheel and the keys. Nothing we will ever do on our own can match what He will do through us. Begin today to seek time alone with Him every day, the longer the better. Cry out in desperation to Him, confess your knowledge of how weak and powerless you are. Ask Him to pour His Spirit into your life until you overflow with His glory and love. Walk in His power and leave all the details to Him. A life fully surrendered to Jesus is a life that will change this world.

Faith Requires Work

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How hard are you working at your faith? Are you a lip-service Christian who professes to love Jesus with your speech but fail to back up that claim with any proof? The world around us is spiraling out of control and Western Christianity is not to be found. We stand mostly silent to the atrocities that are occurring on our watch. I am extremely thankful for the people and ministries that have broken out of the trance and are doing their work as the hands and feet of God. For the vast majority of Christians, however, the response is a deafening silence. We’re content to let others do the heavy lifting, convinced that somehow we just don’t feel “led” to participate in that way. I believe much of the rhetoric of “not feeling led is synonymous with “feeling fearful”.

There is no fear in Jesus; neither should there be any fear found in the body of believers who love and trust Him. Many wait to “feel led” or find their “calling” before they will surrender everything to Christ. The fact of the matter is if you choose to follow Christ, you will automatically be led to all the places He goes. By definition, if you are following then you are already being led. To follow Jesus is to be led by Him. When faced with a decision, ask yourself, “Would Jesus go there?” If the answer is ‘yes’, then you are being led there as well. It’s not a matter of whether or not you feel led, because if you are following Christ, you are always being led. It’s really a simple matter of whether or not you will choose to follow.

What about your “calling”? What if you are not yet certain what your calling even is? I have good news; you have already received your calling. As Jesus explained in Matthew 25:31-46, you are called to feed the hungry, care for the sick, clothe those in need, and to shelter the poor. This is the calling of everyone who chooses a life of following Christ. In the modern era, people have come to equate their vocation with their calling. Jesus doesn’t call you to be, for example, a doctor; He calls you to serve. If by becoming a doctor you use your skills to care for the sick, then your vocation is one that can be utilized to live out your calling. Your calling, again, is to serve; whether you render that service as a doctor, a farmer, a janitor or a CEO is irrelevant. Your vocation is simply a means of accomplishing what you are called to do. Do whatever you wish for a vocation as long as it enables you to fulfill your calling to love and serve others.

Do not wait to be led or to be called before surrendering your life completely to God. You are already both led and called. We simply must humbly submit every area of our lives to Him. Then we must follow wherever He leads, and do so without fear or question. Every day of our life must be spent in service to others. Live your life constantly seeking someone whom you might help. Sacrifice that with which you have been blessed in order to give to others. Feed the poor; clothe those in need; give a drink to those who thirst. Your faith in Jesus must never be a spectator sport; it requires work.

Moving Toward Your Goals

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Did you ever have one of those conversations that feel like someone just threw a glass of cold water in your face? Wisdom can come from the most unlikely of sources, yet one more reminder that God has an incredible sense of humor. It’s so easy to get caught up in the details of our day to day lives that we can lose track of what we’re actually trying to accomplish. I was recently talking with someone I’d never met before about doing some work together. He simply asked what my ideal job would be. When I told him, he responded with, “and how does doing this job move you toward that goal?” Wow; that unsettled me because I knew that working with him would do absolutely nothing to move me toward my goals in life. It was a simple statement from a stranger, someone younger than I, and with far less experience in this world; I don’t even know if the man is a believer in Christ. I only know that, at least on this night, God used him to speak wisdom into my life.

It’s amazing what we can hear, what we can learn, if only we are open to do so. While it is not the topic of this post, I encourage you to be ever listening for and ever seeking the voice of God. I think you’ll be surprised at some of the ways He chooses to speak. Personally, I love that; I love that God is unpredictable, unashamed and lacks all pretense. He simply loves us and will speak to us in any and every possible way.

But back to the question of my new friend: how is what you are doing today moving you toward your life goals? Perhaps we should back up and make certain you actually have life goals. Do you have a well defined purpose for your life? Are you pursuing things you are passionate about, things that God has uniquely gifted you to do? There is a well documented but rarely followed secret to accomplishing your goals: you must write them down. Write down your life goals on a sheet of paper and put a date next to each one. This is the date you will accomplish that goal. Now work backwards from the date and write down the tasks you will need to complete in order to reach your goal. Read through your goals no less than every week. Read them daily or twice a day. Constantly remind yourself of what you are working towards, and those things you must do to reach each goal.

Armed with a list of your goals, reminding yourself of them regularly, you will be well equipped to determine if the task at hand moves you toward or away from your goals. You will spend your life doing one or the other. I don’t want to live a life that constantly moves me away from my goals. I don’t want to face God when my days are done with the knowledge that I left unfinished the work He gave me to do. Life is but a vapor, just a breath. Our time is short and fleeting. Don’t waste your life moving away from your goals. Embrace your mission and only take on tasks that move you forward. Only God and you can say for sure what your unique mission, your unique goals will be. I do know that followers of Jesus will always have goals that in some way will advance His kingdom, His love and His mission. You are uniquely equipped to accomplish your goals. Make sure your mission aligns with His, that your goals advance that mission, and that you spend each day of your life doing things that will lead to the accomplishment of those goals. For this you were created, and for this you are called to live.

What Holds You Back? Part II

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In my last post I posed the question, “What holds you back from serving Christ the way you want to, from serving Him the way you know you should?” I offered the two reasons why I am held back. Today I will look at the second reason, which is selfishness.

I’m sure we can all agree that selfishness is never pretty. It’s like a cancer that infects our soul and spreads rapidly. We want to hold onto things, whether those things are physical objects, time or ideals. To be a follower of Christ requires that we have no “stuff” of our own. If we will call Him Lord, everything we have belongs to Jesus.

Time is a big one for me; I often would rather do my own thing (or nothing at all) as opposed to serving others, praying or studying the Bible. Any of those things can be draining when done without the proper attitude. Doing those things with a humble heart of love, however, is actually incredibly invigorating. The interesting dichotomy is that if these things are so invigorating and fill us with such life, why are we so hesitant to engage in such activities?

The common thread running between the things we should be doing is that we are doing them with another in mind. That provides much less instant gratification than just doing things for ourselves. These days we are all about the instant gratification. Information can be had with a just a couple of keystrokes, advertisements come at us a mile a minute and the opportunities for entertainment are absolutely mind-numbing. It’s simply easier and more pleasurable in the short term to serve ourselves rather than others.

We must not lose sight of who we are and more importantly, whose we are. For we who swear our allegiance to Jesus, there is no turning back. Our lives will never be the same. We will never again be about instant and short term pleasures. Instead we will bask in the long term tranquility of serving our Lord. May we never lose focus of our calling; love God, love others. It’s simple, eternally gratifying and absolutely selfless.

What Holds You Back? Part I

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What holds you back from serving Christ the way you want to, from serving Him the way you know you should? Life has a way of throwing multiple obstacles in our path as we endeavor to live like Jesus. I would say satan throws these obstacles into our path, but I believe many of the obstacles are of our own creation. I previously wrote about the dangers of allowing ourselves to become too busy. Satan does not make us too busy – we do. Some of the things we fill our life with might indeed come from a subtle, evil place, but it is we who choose to indulge in such activity. I think it is important that we take full responsibility for not leading the life Christ instructs us to live.

For me, the things that hold me back can be broken down into three universal categories: time, money and selfishness. The encouraging part about this is that we can easily improve in each of these areas; there is no magic or rocket science required. Time and money are forever intertwined; we have to work to earn money to live, and that work takes time. As I have lamented in previous posts, I give away the best ten hours of my day to a job that does nothing to further the kingdom of God. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American spends 36% of their waking hours on the job (http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090621/BUSINESS/906210317/1003/BUSINESS). It makes me realize how much better the New Testament model of the Church was, where everyone came together and shared their possessions for the good of the community. In our modern age, there is little community and even less pooling of resources. Instead, each of us soldier on alone; some earn more, some earn less, but all earn for self. While we give – sometimes even generously – to various ministries around the world, we miss the point and joy of communal living. Pooling our resources would mean more time for everyone to be doing Kingdom work. I think what Shane Claiborne is doing with the “Simple Way” community in Philadelphia is amazing (http://www.thesimpleway.org/index2.html). We would do well to follow suit.

If work is holding you back from fully serving Christ, perhaps it’s time to find another job. I know this is not the best economic climate to be seeking employment, but perhaps you at least need to try. We cling to our jobs and our paychecks as if they are the most important thing in the world. I don’t know about your Bible, but mine calls that idolatry. How many of us are guilty of making an idol out of our job? If work is interfering with you being able to serve God effectively and fully, then the job needs to go; you need to find a way to make money that is more conducive to fulfilling your call to serve Christ. That call is simple: love God to the very depths of your soul, and love your neighbors (that’s everyone who’s not you!) in the same way.

Help those in need; care for the single mom’s in your community – they are the widows of our generation and they need someone to come along side of them with the love of Christ. Care for the outcasts in our society, for they are the orphans of our time; they are alone, homeless and desperate for love. James (Jesus’ brother) told us that doing these things is what true religion looks like (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=66&chapter=1&verse=27&version=77&context=verse). What’s holding you back from loving others in this way? What holds you back from giving your entire life to the service of Jesus? How have we gotten so off mission in our modern culture? We claim to be followers of Christ, but our lives look nothing like His. Determine what holds you back and eradicate it from your life. Whatever it is, cut it out, stop doing it immediately. Replace that time with time spent in prayer, study and loving others. This is the key to happiness; this is the life Christ calls us to live.