Even If i Walk Alone

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

focus

Of Roses and Thorns

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In life, we can complain about the thorns among the roses, or we can marvel at the beauty of the roses among the thorns. It seems easier to complain about all that is wrong rather than discover the good amidst all the evil. The world God created is full of exquisite loveliness. On the flip side, the enemy has come and sown “tares among the wheat” (Matthew 13:24-30), ashes among the beauty.  It is up to each of us where we will focus our lives, either on the thorns or on the roses.

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I hope as a follower of Christ, the choice is easy. Nothing or no one is more beautiful than our Savior. When we see the world through His eyes, we will see the beauty of His creation through a lens of love. But followers of Jesus are not perfect. We lose our focus and see things the way the rest of the world sees them. We give in to the temptation to become so wary of the thorns we never see the roses.

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Running Out of Time

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Life is shorter than we think. Few of us ever think of tomorrow as being our last day on earth, much less of our next breath as being our last. No matter who we are, how well we take care of ourselves, or how much security we place around us, the end will always come sooner than we expect. When our time comes, there will be the inevitable regrets of things undone, words left unsaid, and opportunities never seized.

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There are not enough years in our lifespan to do all we desire to do. Instead of viewing these facts through a morbid or depressing lens, we should instead use this knowledge to understand the urgency of our lives and prioritize our activities in a manner that reflects that urgency.

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What Influences You?

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Each of us is the sum of the places we’ve been, the books we’ve read, the media we’ve watched, the music we listen to, and the people with whom we surround ourselves. We have a responsibility to monitor what is going into our minds because it has a profound impact on the health of our hearts. Jesus called us to follow Him, but we spend most of our time pursuing anyone and anything other than Christ.

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It doesn’t square with our claim that He is our Lord. So much of who we become is not directed by Jesus at all. In fact, His influence seems to be so much less than everything else that is shaping us. What influences you?

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2020 Vision

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Beginning a new year is always an opportunity to get clear on our purpose and focus more diligently on our goals. This particular new year has the advantage of coming with a built-in reminder. The year 2020 should remind us to strive for 20/20 vision for our purpose and daily tasks.

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The way to gain clarity is to recognize no goal is worthwhile if it does not engage our God-given gifts and abilities and has the mission of building His Kingdom here on earth. There is nothing we should do that doesn’t point people to Christ. Everything we do should draw others to Him.

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Your Best Life

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What are the spiritual disciplines you want to have in your life but have not yet implemented? It seems we always think there will be a tomorrow to get started in building a life that looks more like Jesus. As I write this, a new year is approaching. There is something about the end of one year and the beginning of the next that always seems like a great time to make changes in our lives. The tradition of new year’s resolutions dates all the way back to the Babylonians and continues to this day.

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Before we get caught up in this again, we need to remember Jesus taught we should not be building treasures in this life, but storing up riches in Heaven (Matthew 6:19-20). The point of following Jesus is not to build your best life now, but to build your best life after you’ve passed on from this earth.

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