Even If i Walk Alone

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

Discipleship

What’s Your Price?

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All it took was thirty pieces of silver for Judas to betray Jesus. Adding insult to injury, some scholars claim that was the going price for a slave. According to researchers, those thirty pieces of silver would equate to about half a year’s wages.  A tidy sum to be certain, but nothing that would change your life. Hindsight being 20/20, Judas’ act of betrayal has to rank as the single most stupid and greedy act in all of history.

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Half a year’s wages to sell out Jesus? If you are going to go toe to toe with God, wouldn’t you at the very least want to make sure you were set for life? The whole equation of silver to God seems ridiculous; at least until we begin to examine our own lives and see we regularly betray Jesus for far less.

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Dying to Self

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Central to living life as a fully devoted follower of Jesus is the act of dying to self. It is only when we lose ourselves we are able to then find Jesus (Luke 9:23-24). Paul said in dying to himself he would gain everything (Philippians 1:21). A true follower of Jesus surrenders everything to Him. Whatever we knew before Jesus, we now cast aside in favor of living a life that looks just like His.

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Few can do this all at once, though I wish it were so easy. In reality, we must all die constantly, in every hour. No matter how well or poorly things may be going, we must make a conscious effort in each moment to die to ourselves and live for Jesus. It gets easier, I promise, but it is a choice we will have to make from this moment until our last breath. I can think of no higher aspiration for a life.

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A Disciple’s Life

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Have you ever noticed when Jesus sent His disciples into the world, He didn’t send them out to receive earthly pleasures or joy, but rather to persecution and tribulation? He didn’t send them out to receive honor, but rather the contempt of the people. Jesus did not send them into a life of ease and rest, but rather to one of hard and difficult labor.

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What was appealing to Christ’s early followers was not the life they would be leading but rather the fruit which would be the reward of their work. They were not focused on what they might gain or obtain, but only on what would be achieved for God’s glory and His Kingdom. This is what it looks like to be a disciple. It was true then, and it is true today.

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Lord and Savior

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You cannot separate having Jesus as your Savior and living your life in obedience to Him. Christ cannot be your Savior if He is not your Lord. Yet there is very prevalent teaching out there insisting the only thing required of you is to pray a simple prayer and Jesus will then be your Savior. Not only is this a dangerous teaching, it is altogether unbiblical.

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The Bible says we must first make Him our Lord, and then we will be saved (Romans 10:9). It doesn’t say we can be saved and then perhaps make Him Lord of our life. Acknowledging His Lordship comes first and must be present if we are to experience His incredible gift of salvation.

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Selfless

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Are you selfless? I’m not talking about being a person who readily helps others. That’s part of it, sure. But a truly selfless disciple has forsaken everything for the love and mission of Jesus. When we are selfless, we no longer think of ourselves. We think of Jesus, and we think of how we might reflect Him to others. Society does everything it can to convince you life is all about you. You deserve to have nice things, a nice place to live, a good job, and a sense of safety; you deserve to be comfortable.

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Except you don’t. As I’ve said before, what you (and me) deserve is to spend eternity separated from our Creator. We spend the bulk of our days in abject rebellion to our professed “Lord”. We deserve nothing good. But our selfishness convinces us it’s not true. We listen to society and live selfish instead of selfless lives.

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