Even If i Walk Alone

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

Discipleship

The Purpose of Church

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In “Counter Culture”, David Platt writes, “When we observe our churches today, do they look like groups of people who gather with one another as they give their lives to spreading the gospel among unreached people, impoverished communities, abandoned orphans, lonely widows, dying babies, sex slaves, and suffering brothers and sisters around the world?” His conclusion is the same as my own: we do not.

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His question comes straight from the Bible (Matthew 25:31-41; James 1:27; Isaiah 58:6), and reflects God’s will for each of our lives. It’s sad enough most of us are not dedicating our own lives to this, but absolutely tragic we as a body of believers are not marshalling our forces to combat these evils in the world.

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One Simple Question

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Many of us, myself included, have a tendency to overcomplicate things. In our quest to live our lives wholly devoted to Christ, we can over encumber ourselves with rules and promises intended to make us look like Jesus but in reality do little more than frustrate us. The way to ensure we are living as Christ designed us to live can be boiled down to one simple question: “Did I do my best to serve Jesus today?”

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I think it’s a valuable question to ask before we close our eyes each night. Being aware we will answer that question each night should profoundly influence the way we live our lives throughout the day.

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Casual Christian

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There is an old song by the band “Degarmo and Key” called “Casual Christian”. The beginning of the song says, “I don’t want to be a casual Christian / I don’t want to lead a lukewarm life / ‘Cause I want to light up the night / With an everlasting light / I don’t want to lead a casual Christian life.” Though the song is over twenty-five years old, the lyrics still regularly play in my mind. Put simply, this is the call of my life, and I believe it is the call for every disciple of Jesus.

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Casual Christianity is mediocre Christianity. It is lukewarm Christianity. It is nothing more than religious busyness, and it very literally makes God sick (Revelation 3:16).

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A Few Things

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Clement of Alexandria wrote, “Many will never reach the Kingdom of Heaven for they have fixed their eyes on wealth. They are sick for the things of the world. They live proudly through luxury. But those who are serious about salvation must settle this beforehand in their mind. All we possess is given to us to use for sufficiency, which one may acquire by merely a few things.” For those of us in the West, this should be especially convicting. We live proudly in our luxury.

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We take more for granted than half the world can even imagine possessing. All this extravagance will count for nothing when we stand before God and give an account of our lives. He will ask what we did with what He entrusted to us, and we will only be able to hang our heads and admit we hoarded it for ourselves (Luke 12:16-21).

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What About Me?

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One of the biggest stumbling blocks to living a life wholly devoted to Jesus is when you get tired and begin asking, “What about me?” I’ve met many professing Christians who pledge their devotion to Jesus but never seemed to have let go of pursuing their own dreams and desires. After serving on a mission trip, they need to take a little time off “just for themselves”.

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They’re okay to work really hard for Jesus during the day, but the nights are theirs to relax on the couch or out with friends. The problem of course is when you gave your life to Jesus, you surrendered everything to Him at that moment. There are no loopholes in the life of a disciple.

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