Even If i Walk Alone

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

Fear

Outsiders

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If you follow Jesus with any consistency in this life, you’re going to find yourself as a cultural outsider. There’s no way around it. Our values are different. Our morals are different. Even our goals in life are different. We are not of this world, and we do not live like we are of this world (John 17:14-16). The very act of following Jesus Christ puts you on the outside, looking in on the rest of the world. You’ll be weird.

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The people of this world will hate, despise, and maybe even kill you. For certain, they will never understand you. Jesus lived on the outside too and he promised we would face trouble (John 16:33). He told us in advance that the world would hate us because it hated him (John 15:18-19). Authentic followers of Jesus will never be on the inside of the coolest and most popular circles. They will always be outsiders.

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What Can You Do?

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What can you do about the increasing evil that is penetrating every corner of our world? To be realistic and blunt, not much. The fall of this world was a foregone certainty before the Lord spoke the first word to create it all (Isaiah 46:9-10). None of what is transpiring is surprising to God. Every bit is part of His mysterious but sovereign plan (Ephesians 1:11-12). I don’t get it.

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This isn’t in any way how I would write this grand story. Then again, I am so obviously not God. My “perfect plan” would fall apart within seconds. No, that’s too long; it would immediately fail because I am not omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, or omnibenevolent. It’s not all bad news though. While we can’t stem the tide of evil flooding our world, there is something we can do.

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Cultural Christianity

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I am seeing a lot of talk these days around what is called “cultural Christianity”. The term has been around for a long time, although sometimes taking on different names such as “nominal Christianity”, or even “carnal Christianity”, but it always manifests in the same way. A so-called “cultural Christian” is one who either grew up in a Christian home, or was at least exposed to the teachings of the Bible, and still leans toward those life principles they remember from their youth.

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Many who identify as cultural Christians walked away from all things Christianity but are returning to its tenets later in life. There are two important things we must know about cultural Christianity: first, there is no Biblical basis for it, and second, it is rare for those professing such a belief to place their faith in Jesus Christ.

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Finding Joy

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Do you find yourself a little less joyful these days than you have been in the past? Life seems harder than it used to be, civility is difficult to find, and decorum seems to be a relic of the past. From news reports and social media to common experiences in our everyday lives, the world is teeming with anger, despair, and outright evil. It’s understandable we may experience a lack of joy in such a world.

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Against this backdrop, we must reconcile our feelings with the Apostle Paul’s admonition to rejoice in the Lord always (Philippians 4:4). Considering these words, how and where can we go about finding joy and peace for our souls in these dark days? I assure you that hope is not lost and indeed, if we are faithful, joy will come again tomorrow (Psalm 30:5).

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Courage

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While I’m uncertain whether the tradition continues today, for years, the cadets at West Point would recite this in their Sunday chapel: “Make us choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong. Never be content with half truth when whole truth can be won. Endow us with courage that is born of loyalty to all that is noble and worthy, that scorns to compromise with vice and injustice and knows no fear when right and truth are in jeopardy.”

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What if we had such zeal for the Kingdom of God? Isn’t it our duty to uphold the same things for the sake of the cross? If brave men and women can have that kind of commitment for a temporal country here on earth, shouldn’t our commitment to the eternal Kingdom be far greater?

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