Even If i Walk Alone

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

commitment

How Far Would You Go?

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How far would you go to follow Jesus? It’s easy to say you love Him; most of us would even say we’d die for Him. In Matthew 10, Jesus tells His us that if we follow Him, the world at large will hate us. Are we willing to be hated by the world? The leaders of Israel were constantly conspiring to kill Jesus, or to trap Him in His own words. They were determined to take Him down, one way or the other. Are you prepared to live that way, under that kind of scrutiny? Again in Matthew 10, Jesus issues another warning, telling us that our own family members will betray, disown and kill us. They will do this simply because we choose to follow Jesus. Are you prepared to cause division and strife in your family? Are you willing to love God more than you love them? Obedience to the call of Jesus is not an easy road.

It doesn’t end here. Still in Matthew 10, Jesus tells his followers that they will be persecuted and tortured because of His name. This is not a calling for the marginally curious. Following Jesus is extremely serious, and you must be willing to pay the price before you endeavor to do so. We are not promised an easy, secure life; rather we are told by Jesus that we’ll be like a lone sheep surrounded by many hungry wolves (Matthew 10:16). We will suffer. We may die. We will alienate many around us, and we may lose our friends and family. These are the facts given by Jesus Himself; this is not a game. Following Jesus calls for a radical commitment devoid of any self-interest. Is the cost worth it to you? Are you still willing to come along?

In another passage in Matthew (chapter 8, verses 20-22), Jesus tells us we should expect to be homeless if we follow Him. This is almost unfathomable to Christians in the West who have intertwined their faith with the American dream. If we are traveling into all nations telling others about Jesus, just as He commanded us to do, then what need of a home would we have anyway? Jesus goes on to say that we should not even take the time to bury our family members. This is urgent, and there is no time to lose. The days are evil and counting furiously down. Time is against us, so we cannot deviate from our mission for even an hour. We have to reject all that the world offers us and instead, accept all that Christ will freely give. Though others may curse us and spit on us, we must respond by loving them, understanding that they are simply in need of a Savior and that God considers them to be of infinite worth. Though others may jeer and even torture us, we must remain steadfastly committed to praying for them, and loving them. This is what Jesus did. If we would follow Him, we must not waver.

Are you in? Are you still able to say that you truly love Jesus? Do you love Him to the extent that you would die for Him? Christ took the time to warn us of exactly what we should expect. There should be no surprises when it comes our time to face and endure trials and persecutions. Rather, we should seriously consider our walk with Him if we are not already facing these trials. Perhaps we’ve given in to the Westernized view of Christianity, the one that is replete with multi-million dollar buildings and with sermons proclaiming a safe, successful version of Christianity. This isn’t about being comfortable or feeling secure. This is about following hard after Jesus Christ with an unbridled and unrestrained passion. The road is narrow and difficult, and only a few will persist.

Let me ask once more, “Are you in?” Are you ready to literally lose everything for the sake of Jesus Christ? Are you ready to travel all over the world to proclaim His message? Will you endure being mocked, spit upon, and tortured? Will you concede all of your friends and family in order to follow Him? Are you willing to die for the sake of Jesus? How far would you go?

No Exceptions

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Every person who would be a follower of Jesus has the same responsibility. We must love Jesus with all that we are and all that we have. Our love must be expressed in the way we live our lives, the things that we do. Each one of us is accountable for how we spend our time and how we invest the resources that God has entrusted to us. It’s not just a select few that are called to the heavy lifting of living out our faith. Jesus never placed classifications on His followers. He never said that some were to feed the hungry while others could relax at home and indulge in their own excesses. No, Jesus said that each and every one of us was to go and tell others about Him, to care for the needs of others.

In our Western culture, there is a pervasive attitude that once we have accepted Christ we can pretty much coast through the rest of our lives. While some will embrace what it means to truly follow Jesus, far more will carry on with life as usual after professing Christ as their savior. It’s easy to lose sight of the urgency to build the kingdom when we live in comfort and freedom. We’ve been conditioned all our lives to aspire to modern conveniences and abundances. This is what success looks like; it’s the American dream. People accept Christ, live a moderately moral life and attend church regularly; and that’s it! That is the extent of their Christian life. Living a life that looks like Jesus is so much more than this. It’s more than sporadic acts of kindness. It’s more than being a joyful and generous person. A true follower of Jesus is one who actively seeks to be the hands and feet of Jesus in each moment of the day.

There is no excuse for any Christian to not live a life that looks like Jesus. In every activity we must do a heart check to determine if it is an activity in which Jesus would engage or one that would please Him. We are His servants, slaves of the King. Our freedom is found in doing the will of God; beyond that we have no latitude. We are not free to engage in activities that contradict our calling; this is disobedience. I have no problem proudly proclaiming myself to be a slave to Jesus. I am happy to give up everything I have for Him. There is no shame in slavery when we are yoked to Jesus. We are His servants, yes, but we are servants inundated with a love that is beyond our comprehension or measure. This is servanthood by choice. Why would someone choose to be a servant of Jesus and then show such disregard for His commands?

In Ephesians 5:15-16, Paul tells us that we must make the most of our time because we live in evil days. Making the most of our time does not include sleeping away our life, sitting on the couch for hours on end or engaging in entertaining but ultimately useless forms of recreation. I don’t want to stand before God and tell Him I could have done more for Him, but then I would have had to watch less television or hang out less with my friends. Jesus said that we could not be His follower if we didn’t hate our friends and family. This simply means that He must come first in all things and at all times. I firmly believe that God established the law of the Sabbath to allow us times of refreshment, a time to catch our breath. But the Sabbath is only set up as one-seventh of our time. Can we honestly say that we only spend that small amount of time on our own personal entertainment and relaxation?

There are no exceptions allowed for being a follower of Jesus. Your age, race or gender makes no difference. If we would follow Jesus, we must do those things that He told us to do. We must feed the hungry, care for the single mothers, the homeless, the sick and anyone else in need. We must give generously to those who have less than we do. We must shine the light of God on everyone we meet and tell them of our love for Jesus. We must not rest, we must not tire; we must press on and forward at all times. This is how each of us must live, not just a few, not just some. No one has an excuse to simply profess Jesus with their lips and then lead a life of leisure. We are called to service and to action. There are no exceptions.

Making the Most of Your Time

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Did you ever have one of those weeks where despite your best intentions, you ended up getting nothing done? I call these “lost weeks” and nothing can be more maddening for a driven, goal-oriented person like me. I suspect you too have had weeks that just passed you by without making any forward progress. The problem is that our best intentions do no not equal our best efforts. We can intend to do something all we want, but until we put effort behind the intention, then we have no action. Intention without effort is dead; it’s the same with our faith.

While letting time pass without reaching our goals or making forward progress can indeed be maddening, this same behavior is devastating to our spiritual walk. We are told in Ephesians 5:15-16 to make “the most of the time because the days are evil.” If we are not making the most of our time each day, we are allowing Satan to gain a greater foothold on our world. As we are commissioned to bring the kingdom of God to reality on earth, beating back the advances of the devil is one of our primary objectives. It’s not good enough to show up on Sundays to praise and worship with fellow believers; it’s not good enough to write a few checks in support of various ministries each month; and it’s certainly not good enough to give lip service to our commitment to Jesus Christ. Making the most of the time we have is not something we can do passively or half-heartedly. How many days do we let go by as we wallow in self-pity or simple laziness? How many days have passed since you have actively engaged in being the hands and feet of Jesus? None of us have any guarantee of living one more second on this planet. Every one of us faces the stark reality that today may be our last day on earth. This is urgent! The time to serve Christ is now because there may not be any other time available to do so. We must make the most of the time, and that time is right now!

A follower of Jesus cannot afford to have “lost weeks”. The truth is, if we are fully living our calling, we cannot even afford to have “lost minutes”. Every breath is precious to carrying out the mission of Jesus Christ. There is not a moment that He is not with you, but how many moments do we spend unaware of his presence and unconcerned or uncommitted to His work? We must be intentional people, deliberately measuring our words and our steps in order to put forth our best effort for Him regardless of our circumstances. We are the called and we are His chosen. We have committed our lives to being followers of Jesus Christ, to go wherever He might lead, and to do whatever He might have us to do. Becoming a follower of Jesus is optional; once committed, however, carrying out His mission is required.

Are you making the most of every second of every minute of every hour of your life? Do you breathe in the love of God and exhale His passion to the world around you? Are you committed to giving all that you have and all that you are to help bring about His Kingdom here on earth? This isn’t a game or a social club. Following Jesus isn’t something you do because it’s hip or cool. To be a true follower of Christ is treacherous, dirty, smelly and difficult work; it is not for the squeamish or the faint of heart. Are you ready to take up the cross of Christ and follow Him wherever He may go? Are you ready to live for Him, to die to all you have ever known, and to spend the rest of your life being the hands and feet of Jesus to a dark and lonely world? Begin today because there may not be a tomorrow for you. Love God, love people, and serve Jesus. Stay focused on His mission, making the most of the time you have.

Kicking the Christians Out

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What are you concerned with in your life? What drives you to get up each day? Who are you becoming? These questions shape our character, the essence of who we are. Over the past couple of weeks I have found myself among Christians, yet I’ve never been so frustrated or heartbroken. Call me naïve, but I used to think that Christians and followers of Jesus were one in the same. That illusion was shattered several years ago, but it has become magnified of late for me. Let me explain what I see as the difference.

A follower of Jesus is one who is passionately in love with Christ, the Son of God. They will go anywhere and do anything for Him. Their hearts are broken by the dependency of the widows and elderly, by the desperation of the single mother and by the hollow eyes of the homeless. Followers of Jesus show compassion and love to everyone they meet, doing so in the name of Jesus. They share the good news of Jesus whenever they have opportunity to do so. A true follower of Jesus is humble, thinks of others first and possesses impeccable integrity. People are drawn to them because of the light that shines from them, a light that is the very reflection of God. This is what a follower of Jesus looks like, because this is what Jesus looks like.

In contrast, a Christian appears to be one who prayed a magic prayer at some point in their life, probably went forward in a church service to proclaim their faith, and more than likely got baptized in some water. If they are a really good Christian, they then become involved in a ministry or two at their church and eventually teach a Sunday school class or become an usher. The really super Christians may even become deacons or elders in their church. Their speech, dress and attitude are always wonderful for an hour or two each Sunday. Catch them during the week, however, and you’ll find a different story. These types of people compartmentalize their life. One compartment is neatly packed with their Sunday life, while another compartment is stuffed and bursting at the seams with their lives outside of church. Even at church you will hear conversations of negativity, jealousy, rumor spreading and disenfranchisement. Ephesians 4:29 states that, “No rotten talk should come from your mouth, but only what is good for the building up of someone in need.” In verse 31 of the same chapter we see that “All bitterness, anger and wrath, insult and slander must be removed from you, along with all wickedness.” Does this sound like the folks at your church? My guess is that it does not because our Western churches are filled with Christians instead of followers of Jesus.

When I was younger, churches and towns had “revival meetings” every so often. For the uninitiated, these were generally week long meetings held in churches or tents where an out of town speaker would visit and bring a message of repentance. I must be honest, as a youngster I dreaded being dragged along to these meetings. The purpose of the meetings was to shake the local Christians awake, to remind them of their true calling, and I think, to scare the daylights out of those in attendance. Perhaps we need to start having these meetings again. Christians in our churches are in such a malaise that it’s about time that they were shaken awake and scared back to the reality of the seriousness of their choices. We need to rekindle the flame of passion for loving God and telling others about His love. We need to repent of the religion of Christianity and turn to a life of following Jesus.

Let’s kick the Christians out of our churches. Let’s not be afraid to see our numbers drop until all that’s left are true followers of Jesus. Just as He stated in Matthew 12:30, we are either for Him or against Him. A religious life of platitudes and bickering is not a life that is for Jesus. It’s not why He came, and it is not a life to which we’ve been called. These are the salt that has lost its savor; these are the lukewarm. Do everything you can to never fall into that lifestyle. Instead, renew your commitment to Jesus today; determine from this moment forward that you will follow Him wherever He goes, and that you will imitate whatever He does. God has no use for meaningless religion and neither should we. Repent, follow Jesus, love God and serve people. Surrender all that you are and become a true follower of Jesus.

Are You a Christian Or a Disciple?

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I recently attended the North American Christian Convention as it afforded me the opportunity to see one of my favorite speakers, Francis Chan. If you’re not familiar with Mr. Chan, I would highly recommend that you check out his books (“Crazy Love” and “Forgotten God”) or listen to one his messages at the website of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California. Chan’s topic for the day was the issue of being a Christian versus being a disciple. As he pointed out, there really is no difference, at least by Biblical standards. However, Western Christianity at large seems to be perpetuating the lie that it is possible to be a Christian without being a disciple of Jesus. This resonated deeply with me as one of my own personal mantras is “repenting of Christianity for a life of following Jesus.” One of the ideas promoted by the modern church is that by simply having someone pray a prayer and raise their hand, we have added one to our convert count for the year. Chan stated that he believes this is the most dangerous teaching in the church today. I couldn’t agree more.

Jesus told the people of His day that if they would follow Him they had to leave everything behind. They had to sell their possessions, they had to give away their money, and they had to forsake their friends and family for the sake of following Jesus. There is no hesitation and no compromise in the life of a true follower of Jesus. For someone to be a follower of Jesus, they must be “all in” or left out. From my study of Scripture I just don’t see any wiggle room on that. If you would call yourself a follower of Jesus, you must be willing to give up absolutely everything for Him.

Incredibly, some of the comments posted after Chan’s message were very negative. People were complaining that Chan was only saying that Christians must be disciples rather than giving them practical steps on how to become a disciple. I want to be as sensitive as possible here, but the last time I looked, those steps were quite clearly defined in the Bible. I think we have become a people that expect others to teach and lead us to such an extent that we no longer seek answers for ourselves. Worse still, in our ADD influenced society I think we often fail to even think at all. If something requires any level of depth it seems most are eager to move on to the next shallow but stimulating topic. Let me reiterate what is becoming a recurring theme here: following Jesus is hard. It’s not for the weak or the squeamish, but it is for anyone who loves Jesus with absolutely everything they have.

We need to stop being concerned with counting how many our church has “led to the Lord” and start making sure we invest in each one of their lives to encourage them to grow and mature in their faith. In other words, we need to be following through on the great commission and not just tell people about Jesus, but make disciples of all people. We need to spend enough time with new believers to ensure they understand what the next steps are and what God expects of them. Following Jesus is not a one time commitment, but rather a commitment that requires renewal every second of every hour of every day.

In summary, let me voice my agreement with Francis Chan. God didn’t call us to make Christians; He called us to make disciples. Let’s be certain that we as a church are not more concerned with someone raising their hand saying they’ve made a decision, than we are with discipling and nurturing that person. Leading someone to Christ and having their lives immersed by the Holy Spirit is only the first half of the commission. The second half requires that we make disciples of these individuals, so that they do not fall away from the faith and can positively impact the world with the love of Jesus.