Even If i Walk Alone

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

Discipleship

Superficial Religion

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Charles Spurgeon said, “Superficial religion will always be fashionable because it does not require self-denial.” If you ever question whether your faith is genuine, ask yourself how much self-denial you are exercising in your life. Jesus made it very clear: if you are going to follow Him, you must deny yourself (Luke 9:23). You cannot be a Christ follower and live your life indulging in sinful lusts and behaviors (Romans 8:12–13).

There is a way that seems good, pleasing, and desirable to us, but that way of living only ends in death and eternal punishment (Proverbs 14:12). Genuine faith is manifested in self-denial, a putting away of the old ways of the flesh, and walking as a new creation in the power of God’s Spirit (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 2:19-20).

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Would You Follow You?

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Before His ascension, Jesus told His followers to make disciples all over the world (Matthew 28:19–20). A disciple-maker is one who leads a life worth emulating. Jesus had and has so many followers because He lived a life that everyone who fears God wants to live. He proved Himself worthy to be followed (1 Peter 2:21). Can we say the same? Do others see our life as one worth copying?

Perhaps a better question is, if you weren’t you, would you follow you? Jesus left us with the responsibility to look so much like Him that everyone else would want to know Him. That’s our mission every day. When we wake, we should focus on looking like Jesus. When we lie down at night, we should reflect on whether we accomplished that goal, and if not, why not?

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Persevere to the End

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Life is the ultimate dichotomy. It is both short and long, and we feel the tension between the two every day. Our time on this earth is not even a blip on the timeline of eternity. We are but a vapor that is here one moment, and gone the next (James 4:14; Psalm 103:15–16). But the time spent living in that “blip” can seem grueling and never-ending. This is true for our walk with Christ as well. Not that Jesus Himself is taxing in any way; His burden is light and we find our rest in Him (Matthew 11:28–30).

But the world makes living for Jesus one challenge after another. We must choose Christ over our sinful nature every second of every minute of every hour of every day. Sometimes it can feel like a grind. It is why so many fall away (Matthew 13:20–21), and why we are called to persevere to the end (Matthew 24:13).

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Hear and Do

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We must do more than consume the Word of God. I’ll be the first to admit that I would rather spend all day, every day, studying God’s Word and spending time in prayer with Him. To some, that will sound like boasting, and for others, it will generate an aspiration to be the same way. But the reality is, as wonderful as bathing yourself in the Word of God is, it isn’t enough.

Even if we have more Bible knowledge than anyone else, and spend more time in prayer than the holiest of men, it all means nothing if we don’t do what the Word says. It’s not enough to read and hear; we must hear and do. It is in doing what the Bible says that we prove our love for Christ and demonstrate the genuine transformation in our hearts from death to life (James 1:22–25; 1 John 3:24).

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Living to Die

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The reason Jesus came to earth and lived as a man was to die. His purpose from birth was to lay down His life so that we might live (Mark 10:45; John 10:10–11). . Now we must surrender our lives and let Him live through us. If we are to be genuine disciples of Jesus, we must spend our lives living to die (Luke 9:23–24; John 12:24–25). We must die to our passions and dreams. Die to our hopes and ambitions, and die to everything we ever wanted to be.

The funny thing about death is that it means the end of us, and until we come to the end of ourselves, we will never understand what it means to be alive (Matthew 16:25). If we would walk as Jesus walked, we must die to everything and everyone (Luke 14:26–27). Having been crucified with Christ, we no longer live (Galatians 2:19-20; Colossians 3:3).

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