Even If i Walk Alone

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

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Growing Deeper

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As we embark on a new year, we have the opportunity to devote it to Christ. With our culture eroding at an ever-increasing pace, it feels like it is more important than ever to surrender everything to Jesus and to grow deeper in our faith. The Western Church has long been isolated from the persecution so many of our brothers and sisters around the world encounter every day.

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Until now, at least from outward appearances, we’ve been allowed to survive and even thrive despite the prevailing winds of the culture. Without wanting to sound like an alarmist, I am convinced those days will end, and much sooner than any of us ever thought possible.

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What Really Matters

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Tasks and responsibilities constantly barrage us, but gratefully, only a very few things matter. Every day we seem to add additional tasks to our to-do lists. There is an unending stream of new things to which we can read, watch, or listen. As technology advances at a blistering pace, there is always something we’re being told we should learn. It’s exhausting and overwhelming.

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I love the sage advice of A. W. Tozer here. He said, “Nothing that matters is new.” That’s comforting and clarifying. All those things we keep adding to our lives are rarely, if ever, of any true consequence. They are just things we add to keep us busy or to keep up with those around us. We don’t need any of that; we simply need to focus on what really matters.

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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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Thinking Eternally

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As people, we obsess over numbers. We count dollars to quantify net worth, attendees to measure churches, and followers to determine popularity on social media. But did you ever stop to think that numbers are a product of humanity, not of eternity? Counting is irrelevant to God because numbering anything in eternity would be futile.

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How many years will we spend in Heaven with God? That’s an unanswerable question because years have no meaning when one is thinking eternally. My point is the very measure we use on earth has no meaning when we are thinking eternally. And that is how we should spend our days, focused on what is coming rather than what we have right now.

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