Even If i Walk Alone

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

Discipleship

Is Your Life Loud Enough?

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I have a prayer calendar for the persecuted church, positioned in such a way that I see it several times each day. The calendar is put out by The Voice of the Martyrs, and each day has a prayer request for someone in a country that does not allow freedom of religion. Some of the requests are heart breaking, but all remind me of the courage of the believers in these countries. It is often hard to know exactly how to pray for these brave men and women. I am tempted to pray for total freedom of religion in their country. Then I remember that here in America we have religious freedom and the church is withering. The same is true for England, although withering is too kind of a term for what has happened to the church there. Yet in the countries without religious freedom, Christianity is thriving, growing at an incredible pace. How can this be? Christianity has a rich history of persecution. It is always through this persecution that the message of Christ spreads. The way these believers have endured trials you and I can scarcely imagine has spoken volumes to those involved in persecuting them. To pray that these countries would obtain religious liberty is to perhaps doom them to the fate of the Church in the Western world. So I generally pray that the believers there would be strengthened with the power of Christ, that they would be courageous and bold, and above all, that their love would shine so brightly that others would be blinded by it. I pray that the leaders see the positive effect that Christians are having on society and that their message continues to spread. Through it all I am uncomfortably aware of how loud is the love of these faithful believers. They are not allowed to tell others of Christ, yet their lives are lived at such a volume that others cannot help but to experience the love of Christ.

How is your volume? When you walk into the room, do people turn and look because the love of Christ is blaring through your pores? Are they blinded by the light of God that shines through every inch of you? How is it that Christians who are not allowed to gather together in countries that are woefully poor continue to have a larger impact than the wealthy, free church of the West? The difference is they love out loud. They are not passive. They don’t wait for the right moment to serve or until they have enough extra to give. They love out loud and our love is barely a whisper. When we are called to give an account of our lives, will God be able to hear our love and all the ways we demonstrated that love to others? More likely than not, our love will be a barely audible whisper and we‘ll have little to show of its use. The good news is we have the ability to amp up the volume of our love. Every time we reach out to help someone in need, our love gets a little louder. Every time we smile at a stranger or offer an encouraging word, our love gets a little louder. Conversely, every time we hesitate, we turn the volume down a notch. Every time we walk by rather than lending a hand, the volume of our love gets that much quieter.

How loud is your life? Does it blare with the love of Christ or does it whisper the sound of selfishness and busyness? Are you willing to crank it up a notch, willing to start sharing the love of Christ every second of every minute of every hour of every day? We are called to love, period. Do you want to be a follower of Jesus? You must love everyone more than yourself. You’ve got to live out loud. You’ve got to put away everything else you’ve been living for and replace it with love for others. So many are passing away without ever believing in Jesus; it’s time to stem the tide and show them a better way. Put away your selfishness and fear. We have no guarantee of tomorrow. The time is now. Turn up the volume of your life so that others cannot help but see Jesus through you.

Unity and the Poor

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Lately my study has been focused on the poor and unity in the Church. In my last post (see “Haiti: What is Our Response?”), I talked about what our response to those in need should be. I want to continue on that topic today as it is so prevalent in Scripture, and so ignored in our modern society.

Let me first speak of unity among the body of believers in Jesus Christ. When we choose to follow Christ, our lives are forever changed. His priorities become our priorities. We love the way He loves. We treat others the way He does. At least this is what should happen. Many of us accept the gift of Christ, pledge to follow Him and we never hear from them again. Others begin to follow Christ and do well until they join a church. Within the walls of the church building they become disillusioned by the infighting, jealousy, greed and apathy. Still others find that their fellow members do not hold exactly to their own beliefs. More infighting breaks out. Along the way, the call to follow Jesus becomes nothing more than some words on a projector screen.

We are not called to this; we are called to be gentle, humble and patient with one another. We’re called to accept everyone with love. We’re called to be unified with peace (Ephesians 4:1-4). We let our petty arguments get in the way of our calling. We are called to the hope of Jesus Christ. What exactly is that hope? That all people would experience the love and grace of God in their lives; this is the hope to which we were called. We cannot take the hope of Jesus to the world as long as we are wasting time fighting one another. As we fail to take the message of hope to the world, the world remains starving and in need.

If we would but put aside our petty jealousies and disagreements we could actually begin to make changes on this planet. If God can use a single individual to effect great change, how much more a hundred individuals or even a thousand! My first plea is to decide right now to strive for unity with everyone you meet, particularly with your brothers and sisters in Christ. We need each other to work for the common goal of living a life that looks like Jesus.

Once unified (or alone if others simply refuse to come together), our mission is simple: give the love of Jesus to everyone we meet; feed the hungry, care for the elderly, house the homeless and take in the orphans. To this we were called, and to this alone. Are you willing to give up everything you have, everything you are, for the simple reason of giving it all to those in need? The poor are all around us, down the street, across town and all over the world; probably even in the pew next to you. What if we, as a church with one purpose, decided to get mad enough to do something about poverty? What if we gave more than one Saturday a month and more than what we could afford to give? What might be accomplished through our unity for the good of the Kingdom? My second plea is to do all you can to serve the poor.

If we love Jesus, we will do what He says (John 14:15). Do you love Him? Are you truly a follower, one who has committed all to follow Him? Are you holding back, concerned about doing it your way, or maybe wounded by the words of others? We have a limited number of breaths on this earth. How many more will you spend not caring for the poor and others in need? We, as followers of Christ must put everything aside and serve in unity. It is our duty to serve the poor. Let’s come together and make a real and lasting difference in the lives of those in need. We are the called; are you with me?

Integrity

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Are you a person of integrity? As I have stated previously on this blog, I believe integrity is an all or nothing character trait. You do not have amounts of integrity; it is either something you do or do not have. To be a person of integrity is to be above reproach at all times. So how could anyone possibly live a life of integrity when we constantly mess up and fail?

I believe living a life of integrity means you are constantly building your integrity. Whether or not you have integrity is really more of a heart attitude. What, in the very depths of your soul, at your core, do you desire? Do you want to be someone who never cheats, never lies, never cuts corners, and always puts the interests of others before themselves? If you do, I believe you have integrity. However, that integrity needs to be manifested in your behavior. Every day we are building or tearing down our perceived integrity. To put this in another way, whether or not we have integrity is a heart issue; whether or not we demonstrate that integrity is a matter of choices.

In the business world, you build integrity every time you are honest with a client. You build integrity when you put the needs of your customers and your employees before the needs of yourself. Every time you refuse to cut corners, you build your integrity. In business, the most successful individuals are historically those with a perceived high degree of integrity.

Integrity is demonstrated in our relationships as well. Here again, putting the needs of your husband or wife before your own shows that you have integrity in your relationship. Modeling respect for your spouse (or boyfriend or girlfriend) also shows integrity. For example, noticing an attractive member of the opposite sex does not show a lack of integrity. However, letting your gaze linger and your mind ponder possibilities with that individual shows a complete lack of integrity. You promised an unwavering life-long commitment to your partner, and a person of integrity honors their commitments. Jesus says that if we think something sinful, it is the same as having done it. Having integrity in our thought life is one of the most important traits a Christian can have. It is also one of the most difficult.

I suppose you may be wondering why we’re having this discussion of integrity. Simply put, if we cannot be people of integrity in our dealings with everyday life, we stand no chance of living a life of integrity when it comes to serving Jesus. We committed our lives to Him, but how many of us are living out that commitment? Do you keep your eyes fixed on the Holy Son of God, or do they wander to the pleasures of this life, consumed by the lure of instant gratification?
Are we demonstrating integrity in our financial habits? Are you spending more on your entertainment than you are in caring for the poor and needy? Do we demonstrate integrity in our thought life? To quote the late Keith Green, “What’s playing in the theater of your mind?” This is the acid test for integrity: are you living a life devoted to Christ and others, or are you pursuing your own pleasure and happiness?

Tom Ziglar points out a couple of great results of integrity: we never feel guilty about our actions, and we never have anything to hide. If we are living our lives for Christ, then we never need to fear. We can be totally honest with everyone we meet for we have nothing to hide. We can sleep at night without guilt, without regret, for we know we are doing the things Christ would do. We are free, freer than we could ever hope to be otherwise. A lack of integrity brings guilt and fear and wears us down from the endless pursuit of trying to maintain a façade.

Search your heart. Are you a person of integrity? Do you want to serve Christ more than anything in this world? Are you prepared to do whatever it takes to follow Him? If not, pray and ask that God would give you integrity and the strength to demonstrate that integrity through your actions. As a person of integrity, we will love others at all times, assist them in their struggles and serve God every waking moment. Be a person of integrity. Serve Christ with all your heart. When you fall, get up quickly and continue your journey with Him. Let’s build the Kingdom without guilt and with nothing to hide. Determine that today is the day you become a person of integrity. Put the world on notice; from this day forward you will serve and follow Christ with integrity in all aspects of your life.

Are You Making a Difference?

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What if we’re not making a difference at all? What if we sit behind our desks all day, every day, for twenty years or more and never make a difference? We weren’t called to this. Indeed, we weren’t made for this.

Increasingly this is becoming the age of the knowledge worker. Many don’t even go into an office at all, and those that do are cordoned off from each other in 5×5 cells we call cubicles. Community and interaction are left in favor of self-achievement and autonomy. Along the way we have lost our mission and I dare say a piece of our humanity. The past couple of generations have been raised in an environment of individualism at the sacrifice of teamwork. Self ambition has blinded us to the beauty of working together and helping each other. When my grandparents were my age, everyone looked out for one another and lent a hand as needed. Now many of us have never even met the neighbor two doors down from us.

God help us. What have we become? It’s no wonder there is a waning interest in Christianity in this country. Those of us who profess to know Christ live identical lives to those who don’t. We’ve been sucked in by the lies of society. We’ve bought into Madison Avenue and it may very well be costing us our soul. We must turn back and repent. We must rediscover our mission in life, and we must refocus our lives on Jesus Christ.

True religion is this, that we care for the orphans and the widows and keep ourselves untainted by the world. (James 1:27) Are we doing it? Do we take the time to mentor kids from a single parent home or to buy a sack of groceries for a single mother? Do we spend time with the elderly and the homeless? Do we give hope to anyone? When was the last time you unconditionally loved someone, the last time you loved someone without expecting anything in return? We are sick, we are selfish and we have lost our way.

There’s no happy moral today, no silver bullet of encouragement. There is only this: take an honest look at your life. Are you living a life worthy to be associated with Jesus? Are you living a life that displays grace, mercy and love to everyone around you? Are there areas of your life that remain closed to God, areas that you will not surrender? When was the last time you told someone about the love and redemption found only in Jesus Christ? We are sick and we need to get well. Repent today. Turn away from the life you’ve bought into and start fresh living the life God planned for you. We must make a difference or there is no point in any of this. We can’t keep doing what we’re doing and hope to make a difference. Modern Christianity is failing and we must change. We must repent of Christianity and turn instead to a life of following Christ. Replace your selfishness with selflessness, your greed with generosity and your bitterness with love. Repent with me today and walk in the way of Jesus.

Your Action Plan

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How do we get there from here? How do we go from the life we are living today to one that is sold-out, wholly devoted to living the way of Christ? All of us can do a better job of loving others. Each of us can grow closer to Christ than we are today.

We need a plan. Attempting to achieve anything without a plan is a recipe for futility. Take stock of where you are today. Take fifteen minutes to sit down and write down the areas of your life that you know do not reflect Jesus. Pray and ask God to bring to mind areas in which you fall short of His design for your life. Are you self-absorbed? Are you embarrassed to tell others about Christ? Do you look the other way when someone is in need of help? How do you treat your family, is it with the same love that God showers on you? How about your neighbors, do they know you love them? Do you even know them? I don’t know what areas in your life need work; we all have different strengths and weaknesses. Take the time to get away from everything else and just hash out your areas of weakness. Make sure you don’t just ponder these areas, write them down! Some will come quickly to your mind; others will be more subtle and may even surprise you. Take the time to get it all off your heart. Listen for God to reveal your weaknesses to you. This isn’t about making you feel badly or inadequate; this is simply you taking an inventory so you can devise the best plan possible to overcome each and every weakness.

Once you have your list, take another fifteen minutes to write down one to three actions you can take to overcome that area of weakness. We’re not going to become strong in every area overnight, we’re not even going to try and tackle them all at once. But we do need a plan, and by thinking through your action steps now, it will be easier later on when you work on eliminating that weakness from your walk. Again, take the time to get this right, and get it down on paper. Get alone in silence or with some relaxing music if that helps. Put aside any distraction, and just spend the time prayerfully determining ways you can look more like Christ. There is little that pleases God more than for us to seek Him. Just listen and He will tell you what you need to know.

So there you have it; it only took thirty minutes of your day to determine how you can change your life to look more like that of Jesus. You’re on your way to becoming a true follower of Christ. You have a genuine plan of action, and that feels great. There is, of course, one caveat. To begin with a great plan gives you a tremendous boost to becoming the person God intended you to be. But when it’s all said and done, your great plan will remain just that unless you follow it up with action. Remember those action steps you came up with? Yeah, you’re going to actually have to do those things if you want a life that looks like Christ. You’re going to have to get out of your comfort zone, you’re going to have to love people you can’t stand and you’re going to have to sacrifice your time and money to help those in need. A plan without action is no better than lungs without air. It’s up to you to bring meaning to your plans.

Are you willing to follow up on your own action plan? If you’ve completed this exercise, you can see your weaknesses written down in black and white. You can also see the steps you know you need to take to better follow Christ. It’s all there in front of you; you can live the life God intended for you to live. Do you have the guts to trust Him to help you follow through? Are you willing to give up those things that have no place in the life of a follower of Christ? Are you ready to love at any cost and embark on the adventure of your lifetime? We have but one life to live; take action to make yours a life of love and become a true follower of the Way.