Even If i Walk Alone

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

I Corinthians

Stand Firm

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Almost everyone I talk to these days is experiencing some level of anxiety, depression, or hopelessness. It’s as if this is a pandemic all its own. The world is bathed in fear. People fear a virus, their government, diminishing freedoms, or increasing violence. Between fear and depression, I think it’s safe to say a large percentage of our population is desperate for a way out. They need hope.

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Meanwhile, we as followers of Jesus hold the answer to all their problems. There has never been a more necessary time to talk about Jesus. There has never been more fallow ground. Our job is to go and plant the seeds of the gospel. People are hungry, and we hold the bread of life.

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Love is a Decision

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Jesus commands us to love others as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39). That’s even harder than it appears on the surface because loving ourselves is something almost everyone does automatically. We feed ourselves, bathe ourselves, and even work to provide a little money for ourselves. But when it comes to loving our neighbors, well, that love is a decision.

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We don’t do it automatically and it doesn’t come easy or cheap. It will cost us something. To love another means sacrificing your time, your desires, and your agenda. We abandon none of these with ease. Selfishness is something we can put on autopilot. Selflessness requires an active and repeated discipline of our will.

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Live for Christ

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Life is hard for Christians everywhere. This should come as no surprise, as Jesus told us we would have trouble in this world (John 16:33). In many countries, following Jesus will lead to imprisonment, torture, and death. In other countries, Christians are denied jobs, housing, and access to village resources like water. The physical and emotional consequences of professing faith in Christ are extreme. Yet, believers in these countries hold fast to Jesus.

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They disregard the risks for the sake of the prize. Knowing and serving Jesus is worth more than anything to them. In America, our faith rarely causes us any threat to our physical well-being. The emotional consequences of professing your faith are minimal and even laughable compared to what so many are facing. And yet most Christians in America lack the devotion and fervor in their faith of those who suffer so much. Why is that?

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Hurried

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We will not run into Satan face to face most days. We meet him in far more subtle ways. In his book, “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry”, John Mark Comer describes our encounters with Satan this way: “Today, you’re far more likely to run into the enemy in the form of an alert on your phone while you’re reading your Bible or a multi-day Netflix binge or a full-on dopamine addiction to Instagram or a Saturday morning at the office or another soccer game on a Sunday or commitment after commitment after commitment in a life of speed.”

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We are so busy, so hurried, that Jesus is being systematically squeezed out of our lives. And the enemy loves it. He barely needs to lift a finger anymore. Once he got the ball rolling, we did the rest. We’ve made his job ridiculously easy. “The devil made me do it” no longer holds water because we are wholly complicit.

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What do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

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When you are young, people often ask you, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Our answers were always filled with the exuberant and innocent dreams of youth. My earliest recollection of answering that question was that I wanted to be Spiderman. That didn’t pan out and I still haven’t had any encounters with a radioactive spider, so like many passing fancies of youth, it’s probably time to let that dream go.

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But the question of “What do you want to be when you grow up” is a good one for all would-be disciples of Jesus. And it can only have one answer: “I want to be just like Jesus.” While my childhood dream of being Spiderman had no basis on reality, the aim of living like Jesus is both an attainable and worthwhile pursuit.

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