Even If i Walk Alone

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

Discipline

Looking Back

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This is the time of year when many are writing about looking back over the past year, recounting lessons learned, blessings, and obstacles. Looking back is helpful only insomuch as it focuses us on the beauty and blessings of our Savior. There is a danger in looking back that we focus too much on ourselves and not on God. Considering what we have accomplished and overcome can inadvertently lead to self-satisfaction and pride.

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Reflecting on our problems and challenges can lead us down a road of discouragement and despair rather than focusing on the One who provides everything we need. If we visit it lightly, the past can teach us a few lessons and serve as a wonderful reminder of the provision of our God. Better to leave it quickly though and focus instead on the work ahead.

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Finding Hope

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Where are you finding hope these days? Perhaps a first question should be, “Where are you looking for hope?” More and more people are rejecting the authority or even the existence of God, and then wondering why depression and suicide are on the rise. There can never be genuine hope outside of God. Once we deny Him, there is no hope remaining.

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As apologist William Lane Craig has said, “This is the reality in a universe without God: there is no hope; there is no purpose.” So, if you are trying to find hope while leaving God out of the equation, you are fighting a losing battle. You will find your only hope—in fact, the only hope of the world—in Jesus.

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Wholly Devoted to Christ

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The primary goal of my life is to live it wholly devoted to Christ; to become the person He created me to be. My second goal is to instruct and encourage others to do the same. I’ve read and listened to countless exhortations to put God first in your life, or to live a Jesus-centered life. I’ve written those very words on this blog many times.

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What is often missing from these exhortations (and I stand guilty here as well) is an explanation of how to do this in practical terms. How do we center our lives on Jesus and live wholly devoted to Him when myriad distractions are assaulting us every day? How do we live for Heaven and still survive on earth?

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Time for God

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Despite promises to the contrary, technology continues to overcomplicate and frustrate our lives. Having spent most of my career in the information technology field, I speak not as a Luddite but as an enthusiast. Still, it doesn’t take an expert to recognize how technology has exacerbated, and sometimes even led to, the growing sense of despair and sense of being overwhelmed so many are experiencing.

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Social media fuels both the cancel and comparison culture while stealing away the moments we used to spend in the actual company of people or in quiet times of reflection. Our busy lives crowd out any time for God. He exists only in the margins of our lives if we allow Him entrance at all.

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The Real Test

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For a couple of decades, my passion was playing the drums. Like many kids of my era, I dreamed of playing on the biggest stages and touring the world. During those days, my musical hero was Neil Peart, the drummer and lyricist for the band Rush. I modeled everything I did after him, and his writing continues to influence my style to this day. While there are no indications Neil had a relationship with Jesus, he said and wrote many wise things that can apply to our Christian walk.

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I was reminded recently of something he once said: “The real test of a musician is playing live.” In an age where there is no shortage of teaching and preaching, it is important to remember the real test of a disciple comes from how we live. As James, the brother of Jesus said, we must be doers not just hearers of the Word (James 1:22).

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