Even If i Walk Alone

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

forgiveness

The Past Doesn’t Matter

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On your journey to discipleship, it’s important to remember following Jesus is always about the next step. We aren’t concerned with where He’s leading us, we’re simply content to follow. A hallmark of discipleship is never looking back. It doesn’t matter where you’ve been, or what you’ve done. The blood, grace, and love of Jesus makes all which has come before irrelevant. We are who He says we are, and He sees only who we are becoming.

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As far as God is concerned, the past doesn’t matter. He’s not interested in what you’ve done, only in what you will do for His Kingdom.  He holds no grudges. Jesus never looks at what you’ve messed up in the past as an indicator of what you might accomplish in the future.

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Father’s Day

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As I write this, it is only a few days until Father’s Day will be celebrated here in the United States. This holiday affects people in different ways, depending on their situation or upbringing, but few are emotionless about it. For those whose fathers’ have passed away, this day probably brings mixed emotions of joyful memories and sorrowful realities. Some never knew their father, and for these there can be an ever-present emptiness.

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Unfortunately, there are those who have fathers who were abusive in one way or another and, as a result, Father’s Day is a day of bitterness. To those like myself who had good fathers who are still with them, it is a day of celebration of years past. But to all who profess Jesus as their Lord, we have something even more important to celebrate: the love of our Heavenly Father.

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A Clean Slate

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Those who know me best know I love this time of the year. A new year brings new goals, new dreams, and new prospects. As followers of Christ, we have the same opportunity every moment of our lives. No matter what we did ten minutes ago, no matter how badly we failed, we immediately get a brand new start thanks to the cleansing blood of Jesus. He is constantly making all things new (Revelation 21:5). If your life is as inconsistent as mine, this is tremendous news! We don’t have to wait an entire year to kick things off fresh. We can begin anew right here and right now.

Have you ever stopped to consider the power of Christ’s forgiveness? There aren’t many things in life where you get a “do-over”. While it’s true that once a moment has passed we have lost it forever, it is comforting to know that Jesus doesn’t give up on us because we blew an opportunity. He is infinitely patient and always forgiving. He is always willing to give us another opportunity to serve Him as long as we are truly seeking after Him. Serving God is not a one-time event, but rather a life-long string of chances to glorify Him.

While in our minds we might see a list of all our failures and missed opportunities, Jesus patiently waits with a clean slate on which to write how much He loves us. Every new moment is surrounded by His love for us. Christ wants nothing more than to see us become the person He created us to be. He roots for you every second of your life. He is your greatest cheerleader and constant companion. Because of this, our greatest goal should be to honor Him and in some small way thank Him for His infinite love and forgiveness.

What will you do with your clean slate this year? How will you serve Him better? In what new ways will you bring Him glory? If you’re a goal-setter like me, your goals should start with how you will grow in God and detail how you will seek to serve Him. I would argue that every goal you have should in some way relate to how it furthers the Kingdom of God. If you aspire to earn more money or achieve a certain status, make certain you know how you will exploit those things to glorify God and empower those less fortunate than yourself.

Don’t stumble into the New Year without a plan. You were created for a purpose, not for some sort of random wandering. God’s plans are always specific, not a collection of vague generalities. He has blessed us with grace, forgiveness, love, and a unique purpose for our lives. What will we do with those gifts? Don’t let failure get you down; dust yourself off, get up, and serve Him again. There are few gifts as great and full of possibilities as a clean slate. What will you do with yours?

You’re All Right

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God is so merciful and His grace is unending. We all know the things we should do, but in practice few of us consistently succeed. We go through seasons of growth, but then there are those times when it seems all we can do is mess up. We could spend the majority of our days living in guilt, discouraged that we have missed the mark again. God rejects that idea. He sent His Son to free us from guilt and to remove all of our sins. Walking in the footsteps of Jesus gives us never ending opportunities to start again.

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Glorifying God

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Our purpose in life is to glorify God. This is not a part-time purpose or one we fulfill once and move on to the next task. Glorifying God is our life-long pursuit and the way in which we will fulfill the mission He has given us. The thought of constantly glorifying God is daunting at best; is it even possible to live one’s life in this manner? I know that it is; I am confident because I have had moments in my life where I have achieved the goal of glorifying Him. It may have only been for a moment, but here’s what I know: if you can do something for a few moments, you can do it for minute; if you can do it for a minute, you can do it for an hour; if you can do it for an hour, then you can do it for a day. If we can glorify God for a day, then surely we can string those days together to make a lifetime. It all starts with making a conscious choice in a single moment of our lives.

Our attitude is the differentiator in how we will live. We can choose to pursue the life of the American dream because we are of the mind that it’s what we “deserve”, or we can instead live a life of intentional service to God. Most Christians get irreparably stuck in the middle somewhere, living an ugly and ultimately ineffective hybrid form of life. True followers of Christ will opt to live their lives wholly devoted to God. We will seize the moments we have been given and use them to further His kingdom. Jesus lived every minute of His life with the end in mind; He knew who He was and was keenly aware of His purpose. This is the life we are called to live, one which glorifies the Father.

Plan your day around divine appointments; schedule time with God just as you would any other appointment on your calendar. Recognize that the time you have set aside for Him cannot be moved and must be honored. One of the great aspects of prayer is that you can do it anytime, wherever you are. You are never somewhere that you cannot pray, and you are never so busy so as not to have an open channel. I spend a good majority of my day in prayer, having an ongoing conversation with my Creator. There are specific times though when I get alone and engage in less casual conversation, times when I can shut out the world and focus solely on Him. I suggest you find some time each day to do this, whether before going to sleep each night, or perhaps getting up five or ten minutes earlier to steal some quiet in the morning. You will find the time alone with God to be some of the most refreshing moments you will ever experience.

Get excited about knowing Him better and plan ways to accomplish this. Right now I’m in the midst of charting out what the next year of my life is going to look like. I have goals in many areas, but none more significant than those regarding my spiritual life. I’m looking forward to praying for the entire world (not as impossible as it seems, see the “Operation World” project) next year. Starting my day off by focusing on the needs of others around the world promises to be enriching, educational and invigorating. Determining new ways to experience the Word of God is another way to improve your walk and draw closer to Him. Next year I’ll be listening straight through a dramatized reading of the Bible with my wife, while reading it through chronologically on my own. You certainly do not need to read the Bible through in a year to get closer to Christ. I do know that it won’t hurt however, and the more you are in the Word, the more you will understand and marvel at His holiness and love.

As you plan to get to know Him better, His life will begin to reflect brighter and brighter through you. As He shines from within, you begin to glorify Him without even trying. People will take on added significance to you and you will begin to treat each of them as people highly valued by God. Traffic jams will become opportunities to demonstrate patience and allow you the opportunity to speak to God in prayer. Your job can now be seen as a mission field and it is up to you to establish the ministry of Jesus in that place. Every day, in every way, we have the ability to affect those around us. When we choose to honor them with love and respect, we glorify God. When we humble ourselves to serve others, we glorify God. When we forgive without receiving anything in return, we glorify God. A life spent devoted to Christ is more that a possibility; it is our duty and our calling. Choose right now to devote the rest of your life to His service. You can live a life that glorifies Him every step of the way; it only takes a moment to choose, and that moment is now.