Even If i Walk Alone

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

commitment

Looking Back

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This is the time of year when many are writing about looking back over the past year, recounting lessons learned, blessings, and obstacles. Looking back is helpful only insomuch as it focuses us on the beauty and blessings of our Savior. There is a danger in looking back that we focus too much on ourselves and not on God. Considering what we have accomplished and overcome can inadvertently lead to self-satisfaction and pride.

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Reflecting on our problems and challenges can lead us down a road of discouragement and despair rather than focusing on the One who provides everything we need. If we visit it lightly, the past can teach us a few lessons and serve as a wonderful reminder of the provision of our God. Better to leave it quickly though and focus instead on the work ahead.

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A Wasted Life

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Millions of people around the world are wasting their lives living for things that don’t matter while professing to be followers of Jesus Christ. It is the rare follower of Jesus I encounter, whose life looks radically different from everyone else. I know my life too often looks more like someone pursuing (and sometimes even living) the American dream than it does that of a radical follower of Jesus. A wasted life.

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Jesus calls us to live differently than our surrounding culture. When He was walking the earth, few things He did aligned with the social norms of His day. His life was radically different from those surrounding Him. Jesus wasn’t what anyone was expecting and everything they weren’t. We can talk about how different we are from others, but we find the proof in how we live.

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Finding Hope

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Where are you finding hope these days? Perhaps a first question should be, “Where are you looking for hope?” More and more people are rejecting the authority or even the existence of God, and then wondering why depression and suicide are on the rise. There can never be genuine hope outside of God. Once we deny Him, there is no hope remaining.

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As apologist William Lane Craig has said, “This is the reality in a universe without God: there is no hope; there is no purpose.” So, if you are trying to find hope while leaving God out of the equation, you are fighting a losing battle. You will find your only hope—in fact, the only hope of the world—in Jesus.

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Moral Decline

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I was hesitant to write this article. Some will undoubtedly misconstrue what I have to say and label me as a conspiracy theorist or prophet of doom. I assure you I am neither. I am speaking primarily in the context of America, the country in which I live, and specifically to the Church in America. As I survey the moral decline of the past few decades, I am stunned to observe how far we have fallen.

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The vitriol, immorality, and evil that pervade society is alarming. While it seems like this has occurred in a short time, looking back over the years reveals a steady deterioration that has culminated into the state in which we find ourselves today.

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Our Opinions

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We humans love our opinions. We have opinions about everything! If you don’t believe me, just ask someone for their opinion on anything, and I guarantee you will get an answer. Our opinions create our identity, or so we believe. It’s who we are. They run the gamut from food, style, décor, geography, language, and politics. And that’s just scratching the surface! Our opinions color each of our days. They control what we eat, who we’ll talk to, and what we’ll say.

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To the casual observer, we are the sum of our opinions. You might say they are what make you unique. So, when Jesus invades our lives, it can be a most uncomfortable revelation to discover we must surrender our opinions to Him. Not just some of them. Not just those we hold to with a little less ferocity. All of them. If we want to follow Jesus, we must die to our opinions and allow Him to replace them with His own.

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