Even If i Walk Alone

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

I Corinthians

Fear God

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Why do you fear God? Perhaps a better first question to ask is, do you fear God? Scripture commands us many times to live in the fear of God (Deuteronomy 6:13; 1 Samuel 12:24; Proverbs 9:10; 2 Corinthians 5:11; Philippians 2:12-13; 1 Peter 2:17; Revelation 14:7). So, it’s not a question of whether we should, but imperative that we must. With all the sermons teaching God is love these days, it may seem a bit out of step to be talking about fearing God. Humans do not typically fear those we love.

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But God is not just someone else we love. He is the holy, righteous, and glorious Creator of the Universe, the Lord of lords, and the King of kings. God is indeed the highest expression of love. John told us this plainly in his epistle to the Church (1 John 4:8). However, we do not serve a one-dimensional God. Every emotion is magnified and perfected in Him. Thus, jealous, zealous, and righteous anger are also part of who He is. To quote Jonathan Edwards, “… it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”.

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Spiritual Maturity

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What does it take to rob you of your joy? Are you joyful when things are going well but less so when troubles come? You can know joy every day of your life, no matter what you are going through. It is possible to live in joy in every circumstance. John MacArthur once wrote, “One of the surest measures of our spiritual maturity is what it takes to rob us of our spirit-bestowed joy”. A spiritually immature person will find their joy in a constant ebb and flow, coming over them in waves, but drifting away just as easily.

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So, if we want a joy that does not leave us, we need to become more spiritually mature. This works because the more we spend time with God, the more joyful we become. And the more we learn about His unchanging character and love, the more we come to believe in His unfailing promises, the more confident we will become in our joy. We will develop such joy that nothing can shake it.

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Prepared for Persecution

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My heart broke when I read about a recent occurrence in North Korea. That country is second only to Afghanistan in being the most dangerous place for Christians to live (see Open Doors’ “World Watch List”). Government officials raided a secret church meeting of believers. Everyone in attendance was arrested and then summarily executed.

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Without warning and without having had the chance to say goodbye to their loved ones, these dear brothers and sisters were removed from the face of the earth. From the moment they gave their lives to Christ, they knew they were living on borrowed time. They knew the risk of meeting together. They prepared for persecution the best they could and found Jesus worth the cost. But the story gets worse.

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Test the Spirits

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1 John 4 begins with a somewhat curious phrase. John encourages the hearers of his letter to “test the spirits”. First, this implies there are many spirits. In our churches today, it is common to hear about the Holy Spirit, but there is often little attention paid to the other spirits in our world. We ignore these other spirits at our peril. Behind every false teaching, you will find a demonic source.

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Yes, demons are real. They exist and flood the spiritual realm surrounding us. When we go along with false teaching, we are following demons. How’s that for a sobering thought? If we are not careful in examining the teaching we are listening to, there is a very good chance we aren’t being taught God’s truth at all. Instead of growing in our faith, we are opening our minds to demonic influences.

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Aliens and Strangers

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We’re aliens and strangers in this world (1 Peter 2:11). When we turned our lives over to Jesus, we became homeless in this world and began longing for our true home with Christ (1 Corinthians 5:1-3). The closer we draw to Jesus, the more we recognize how out of place we are in this world. Our desires do not match those of society. Our actions often fly in the face of earthly logic and common sensibilities.

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There is a constant sense of being different, of not fitting in here. We don’t feel at home because this world is not our home. We only find peace in the presence of Jesus because He is our home. Having our eyes awakened to spiritual reality, the physical and temporal world can never again captivate us. Indeed, we have become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).

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