Even If i Walk Alone

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

I Corinthians

Trust Him

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It is not uncommon when praying to reason with God and present our arguments why He should grant our requests. The idea would be laughable if not so common. While God wants us to bring our petitions before Him (Philippians 4:6), when we do so, we should simply lay them at His feet. God knows everything we need (Matthew 6:31-33) and has the context of every person and event past, present, and future.

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Therefore, He alone can make the wisest decision regarding our appeal. When we go on about why Jesus should give us what we are asking for, we make ourselves a foolish babbler, filling our prayers with many words that impress no one except ourselves. Again, Jesus knows what we need before we even ask Him (Matthew 6:7-8). We can trust Him, and we must if we want to have a vibrant prayer life.

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The End of Nominal Christianity

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As we watch the moral decline of Western society and the growing indifference or outright hostility toward followers of Jesus, one bright spot in all of this is the end of nominal Christianity. For years, many in the West have been Christ-followers in name only. These are people who like the idea of Jesus, but not the surrender of their lives to Him.

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They go to church every weekend and proudly profess their faith in Jesus, particularly when it is socially expedient. There is a certain panache to being able to claim the moral high ground by proclamation of one’s faith. But surrender their lifestyle to live according to the commands of Jesus and the Bible? Well, that always seems to fall into some sort of “gray area” for these so-called and nominal Christians.

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Taking the Long View

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Joshua Bogunjoko is the International Director for SIM International, a missionary organization with a worldwide outreach. Given his position, he has a unique and informed perspective on what it means to follow Christ in hard times and circumstances. Mr. Bogunjoko writes, “Gaining God’s perspective amid adversity means taking the long view. Our experience of adversity today may be for the work of God in days, months, and years to come. It may be for someone’s encouragement a generation from now.”

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It often seems the work we do for Jesus doesn’t matter. No matter how much we pray, study, and serve, it’s difficult to see the needle moving. But God is always at work, weaving together every event on the human stage—now, in the past, and in the future—to bring about His sovereign will.

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A Higher Standard

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Maybe it’s just me. You won’t find it explicitly in the Bible, and I will be the last to add anything to the Word of God. Still, it appears it is at least implied that disciples of Jesus should live their lives held to a higher standard. After all, our model is none other than Jesus Christ. How could we help but live dramatically different lives than those around us? It’s what He did.

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We too easily surrender to the malaise of Western Christianity and forget the purpose of our lives. Our mission is to tell everyone the good news of Jesus. It’s to look after the orphans, widows, sick, impoverished, and imprisoned (James 1:27; Matthew 25:31-46). And we are to do these things with excellence (Colossians 3:23-24).

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From Flesh to Spirit

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In our fallen world, we have all succumbed to living our lives for our fleshly, carnal desires instead of for our spiritual calling. God calls us to move from flesh to spirit, but most of us spend our time moving in the opposite direction. The world looks so enticing. Surely just sampling what it offers wouldn’t hurt anything, right?

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That strategy did not work out well for Adam and Eve, and by extension has caused us problems from the day we were born. We want the tangible delights we can taste, touch, and see. Oh, and we want them now. Our flesh is always pulling us towards the things of this world and away from our true spiritual nature.

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