Even If i Walk Alone

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

Discipleship

Grow Closer to God

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Often, Christians younger in the faith than I am, have asked me how they can grow closer to God. I’ve discipled several believers over the course of my life, and I can tell you I’ve never found a concrete answer as to the right way for someone to grow closer to Christ. Yes, you need to read your Bible. Yes, you need to pray. You can’t have a relationship with someone you don’t know.

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The Bible alone is the greatest tool for spiritual growth. Unfortunately, few of us will ever have the luxury of doing nothing other than studying our Bible all day. I’m not even sure that would be healthy, but I’d be up for trying it! The reality is responsibilities and commitments jockey for position in our lives and impede our growth.

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Getting Lazy

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Yet we all know we can get lazy in our eating, exercise, and work habits. More devastating than any of those areas, though, is when we find ourselves getting lazy spiritually. It does us no good to be disciplined in physical matters if we’re not going to apply the same or greater discipline to eternal things.

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I’m not only referring to the well-known spiritual disciplines of prayer and Bible study, but also the less obvious areas, like our relationships with family and friends, personal integrity, and service to others. It doesn’t take much to knock us off our game in these areas, which hinders our witness to the world, and disrupts our relationship with the Lord.

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Draw Closer to Jesus

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It’s been fifty years since I accepted the gift of salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. You would think I’d have the Christian walk figured out by now. Sadly, you would be wrong. I’m still learning, failing, and growing. Our finite minds will never comprehend all there is to know about God, and our fallen humanity can never walk in perfection with Him.

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But we must never cease striving to live our lives in obedience and surrender to Him. His Word compels us to do so, and our love for Him keeps us ever-yearning to serve Him better and please Him more. Until that glorious day when He calls us home to be with Him, the best we can do is to draw closer to Jesus every day we live.

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The Fear of the Lord

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The fear of the Lord has always been a bit of a conundrum for me. On the one hand, I understand what it means, but in some ways, it is a mystery. We know we should fear the Lord because He is holy and His wrath is terrifying. At the same time, His love and mercy are comforting and we know those who love Him are safe in His arms. The paradox of fearing and loving God has led to a lot of thought, study, and confusion for me.

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Perhaps you are in the same boat. Thankfully, the Lord cleared all this up for me in an instant this week. I was reading in the book of Proverbs, one of my favorite books in the Bible, and one I have read countless times. Yet for the first time, I saw something I’d overlooked before.

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The Cost of Following Jesus

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Many Christians seem to be confused about the cost of following Jesus. I blame the watered-down preaching that has invaded our pulpits over the last century. Particularly in the age of the celebrity pastor, the truth of the gospel and all it implies has been distorted, perverted, and sometimes outright ignored. Know that following Christ will cost you everything. It won’t require you to give up a few things but to abandon everything (Matthew 16:24-26).

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You cannot follow Jesus without cost. If living for Christ does not result in a radically different life, you aren’t following Jesus. If serving Him costs you nothing, you aren’t serving Him. You are fooling yourself for any number of selfish reasons because the cost of following Jesus is noticeable, and it is significant.

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