Even If i Walk Alone

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

Colossians

Your Approval

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As followers of Christ, we spend our lives pursuing obedience to His commands (John 14:15). Our love for Him compels us to live lives of obedience not because we must, but because it is the deep desire of our hearts. It’s easy to focus on the things you are doing do but ignore the things receiving your approval. We avoid the obvious sins but fail to recognize that approving of the sinful behavior of others is just as much a sin as if we were committing those acts ourselves (Romans 1:32).

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We are not to have any association with the darkness in our world (Ephesians 5:11; 2 Corinthians 6:14-17). It’s not enough to be separate in our behavior but also in our associations and to be mindful of that which receives our support and blessing.

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Have You Died?

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You claim Jesus is the Lord of your life, but have you died to sin? Both cannot be true in one’s life. We cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). If we are a slave to sin, we cannot be a servant of God (John 8:34; Romans 6:16). In the same manner, if we are a slave of Christ, sin no longer has any claim on our lives (Romans 6:17-18). There is tremendous freedom in that realization. The chains of sin will drag us to an eternal death, but the blood of Christ penetrates those shackles and causes them to fall away (Colossians 2:13-14).

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We no longer have to carry the weight of our sins (Psalm 103:12; 1 Peter 2:24). As free men and women, why would we ever choose to hunt down those chains, reassemble them and clamp them back on? We need not do that, and if our commitment to Christ is genuine, we never will.

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Getting More

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In all my years, I have never gone a day without food unless it was by choice. I have seen lean days and days of plenty, but not once have I wondered if I would have something to eat. There are still areas of our world where this is not the case. Throughout history, this has not been the norm. Food security has always been an issue, but it has never been an issue for me, and I doubt it has been for most of those reading this.

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My point is, when all else is going against us, we have so much for which to be thankful. Never let your present circumstances blind you from the realities of the abundant blessings you receive every day (Psalm 103:2). Contrary to how we might think or feel, every day we are getting more than we ever deserve (Romans 6:23; Lamentations 3:22-23).

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Your Mindset

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I like black and white. Black and white is simple; it has no need for nuance. There is truth and there are lies. There is wrong and there is right. Paul pulls out another black-and-white issue in the eighth chapter of his letter to the Church in Rome (Romans 8:1-11). In these verses, Paul talks about how we all have one of two mindsets. We either have the mindset of life or the mindset of death.

your mindset,commitment,discipleship,priorities

That’s about as black and white as it gets. On the surface, the choice seems obvious: do you want life or death? While the choice on paper is easy, aligning our lives with that choice is much more challenging. Every decision you make feeds into your mindset, so we must be careful with every decision, big or small.

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Holy Things

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As believers in Jesus, it is our responsibility to steward holy things. We have the written Word of God to preserve and honor (2 Timothy 3:16-17). We must be diligent and zealous in not profaning the Holy Spirit within us because He is holiness personified (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Our greatest stewardship lies in what we do with the gifts God gives to us (1 Peter 4:10-11). In “God Tells the Man Who Cares”, A. W. Tozer wrote, “We should and must learn that we cannot handle holy things carelessly without suffering serious consequences.”

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The consequence of being flippant about our faith, and the exercise of that faith, may very well be a faith that is not real (James 2:17). Without a genuine faith, there is no salvation (Hebrews 11:6). It’s hard to imagine any consequence more dire than that.

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