Even If i Walk Alone

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

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Time with Jesus

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In the familiar story of Mary and Martha, Martha is busy preparing a meal for Jesus and His disciples, while her sister Mary sits at the feet of Jesus and offers no help to her sister (Luke 10:38-42). Martha is upset by this and complains to Jesus. The reply of Christ speaks volumes about how we should live our lives. He tells Martha Mary has chosen what is more important (Luke 10:41-42).

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The story ends without telling us how Martha responded, but I am more interested in the choice of Mary. What was it about Jesus she found so fascinating, so compelling, she defied cultural customs and ignored family responsibilities to spend time at the feet of Jesus?

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Deep and Wide

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Evan Esar once said, “You can’t do anything about the length of your life. But you can do something about its width and depth.” I like that. None of us know how many days we have remaining. It’s not our call. But what we do with each of those days is within our hands. Every day we choose to pass the time or impact it. In and of itself, there is nothing remarkable about a long life. At best, it’s interesting. But a life lived well is something truly remarkable.

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I want to live a life rich in width and depth. The length doesn’t matter so much to me.  Like Paul, I can say if I live, I’ll live for Christ, but if I die, I’ll be with Him (Philippians 1:21). I have a lot to look forward to. Delaying that sweet reward isn’t exactly in my best interest.

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A Purposeful Life

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God designed this world to be a place of peace and harmony. Satan has hijacked that plan, and after generations of compounding sin, the world today is quite often a frustrating, discouraging, and painful place to live. It’s easy to get caught up in the swirl of war, disease, distrust, and evil around us. While we want to live for Christ, sometimes the path gets dark and we lose our way.

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Our dreams of making a difference fade and far from living a purposeful life, we find ourselves drifting, pulled along by an invisible flow pervading our existence. And tomorrow it all begins again. How do we break out of the cycle and begin to live our lives on purpose and in step with God’s design?

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Never Expect Smooth Sailing

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Jesus never let His circumstances dictate His behavior. No matter what was happening around Him, He stayed focused… and there was a lot going on around Him! As followers of Jesus, we should never expect smooth sailing. If following Jesus was easy, I’m guessing a lot more people would choose to do so. Peter, one of Jesus’s closest friends, said we shouldn’t be surprised when fiery ordeals come upon us; we shouldn’t consider it to be unusual or unique to us (1 Peter 4:12).

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In other words, struggles and temptations are always going to be present in our lives. They are a given. What is up to us is how we will respond. We can stay focused as Christ did, or we can allow ourselves to become distracted and choose the easier path.

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Satan’s Promises are Always a Downgrade

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No matter how appealing they may seem at the time, Satan’s promises are always a downgrade from what you already have in Christ. Accepting the promises of the evil one is akin to trading in a brand-new car with all the bells and whistles for a forty-year-old vehicle that barely runs. Of course, The devil is far subtler than this.

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He’s more like the used car salesman who sells you a car which looks beautiful on the outside and even runs great for the warranty period but afterward becomes erratic and unreliable until you find yourself stranded in the middle of nowhere.

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