Even If i Walk Alone

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

Discipleship

Counter-Cultural

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In a world that promotes self-aggrandizement and getting ahead, living life as a humble servant is truly counter-cultural. It is to invite ridicule, derision, and condescending pity from the masses. No one chooses to live this way because it is easy or socially acceptable. We choose it because Jesus told us this is the way to live. By His own example, Jesus showed although He was superior to all, He chose to be a servant to all (John 13:3-17). He told His disciples anyone who sought to get ahead would be sent to the back of the line (Matthew 19:23-30).

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In the upside-down Kingdom of God, the way to get ahead is to stop promoting yourself and begin building up others. For followers of Christ, life is not about becoming the best known or loved. It’s about serving others in such a way they might see Jesus in us and come to know Him for themselves.

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Follow Him

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Did you ever wonder what it must have felt like for the original disciples when they first heard Jesus invite them to follow Him? We read the story too quickly. Indeed, in its condensed form, it is easy to miss the gravity of the moment. Jesus beckoned them to follow Him, and they dropped their nets and ran after Him. How cool it must have been to be one of the original disciples. If only we had the opportunity, we think, we would have maximized it for all it was worth.

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While the compact telling in the Bible is powerful and shows the great commitment and faith of these men, it doesn’t paint the whole picture of what happened at that moment. These men didn’t just make a decision about what they would do with the rest of their lives, but they were also choosing to walk away from everything they had known.

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Make it Count

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What are you going to do today that matters? I believe followers of Jesus bear the responsibility to ask this question every day. Whatever else we might do today, we’ve got to make it count for Jesus. It’s unbelievable how we’ve allowed ourselves to be co-opted into the culture and we now spend every waking hour, and pretty much every dollar, on things having no eternal value. Friends – Church! – we must wake up.

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Real people, individuals just like you and me, are dying and going to Hell every day of our lives. They are going to Hell because no one told them there was a better way. No one told them no matter what they had done, they were not beyond the love of Jesus. No one told them because we didn’t tell them. We let the day pass by, and we didn’t make it count.

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Rededicate

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It doesn’t take much to see our world is heading in the wrong direction. For those of us in the West, I believe we must accept our own share of responsibility for the way things are. After all, we’ve had religious freedom for a long time. We’ve had knowledge of our Savior for centuries. Somewhere along the line we stopped living as if Jesus was the only thing that mattered and found ourselves more and more seeking our own comfort and security. How can we who have been given so much think we will escape judgment for how little we have done?

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We not only are disobeying Christ’s command to tell everyone about Him (Matthew 28:18-20), but we no longer live as if Jesus is the Lord we claim Him to be. So, we are both disobedient and hypocritical. This is who we have become. This will be our legacy. Is that okay with you? Do you think this is the victorious life to which we have all been called (1 John 5:3-5)?

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Let it Go

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As followers of Christ, we know we are called to take up our cross daily and follow Him (Matthew 16:24). The problem is we’re already carrying so much stuff that carrying a cross becomes problematic. My question is, what is it you are carrying that is hindering you from carrying your cross? Whatever it is, you’ve got to let it go. The cross is not an add-on. It is not an accessory.

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Nothing is more important than the cross of Jesus. When we come to understand this, we know we have no choice but to take up our own cross and follow Him. Sadly, many who come to this realization are already carrying so much and are not willing to let it all go.

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