Even If i Walk Alone

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

I John

Who Are You Living for Today?

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The Apostle Paul instructs us to do everything in life to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Popular music and society tell you to live for yourself. Jesus was clear in teaching we cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24), so we can’t adhere to both worldviews. Each of us will live for Jesus or we will live for ourselves, which means we will live for Satan and the things of this world.

young woman mulling the question of who are you living for today as she seeks to focus her priorities on her commitment to discipleship

There are stark differences between these choices, and there are dramatic differences in the end reality as well. You can either live for now and spend eternity in Hell, or live for eternity and spend it with Jesus. Who are you living for today — yourself or Christ?

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Be Bold

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In the face of unrelenting pressure to compromise, we must be bold and stand firm on the authority of Scripture. Growing up, peer pressure was a given. The desire to fit in, to be liked or even popular, is an enormous weight all people face as they go through their school years. I think we all thought once we moved into the “real world” that peer pressure would go away to a certain extent.

young man determined to be bold in his commitment to surrender to Jesus and live out his salvation with boldness and courage in true discipleship

But it never goes away; it just manifests in different forms. The culture is always trying to conform us to its idyllic mold. The problem is their idea of “acceptable behavior and speech” is grounded in millennia of wrong thinking and sinful attitudes. To conform to the world is to live at odds with the one true God.

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Without Exception

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In a recent sermon, my pastor stated, “If you have any exceptions in your obedience, you are not a Christian.” It’s a bold statement that might cause you to form an immediate objection. After all, who are we to say who is or isn’t a true Christian? Once you get past the initial shock of the bluntness of the statement, you will see that it is in line with God’s Word.

Man pondering what it means to obey Christ without exception, and to order his priorities to reflect his commitment and desire to live in discipleship to Christ.

The problem is we skim over the parts of the Bible that are too convicting or too hard to follow. My pastor’s words are not a new teaching or even controversial when held up to the light of scripture. What we are reacting to is the fact that obeying God’s Word without exception is not something most are willing to do.

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Bear Fruit

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The one thing all Christians have in common is that they bear fruit. If there is no fruit in the life of someone, it is because they have no connection to the root of our faith, Jesus Christ. We can discern who the true followers of Christ are by examining the fruit of their lives (Matthew 7:15–20). But what is this fruit we should see? The fruit of the Spirit is the manifestation of Christ’s Lordship over our lives (Galatians 5:22–23).

A man being kind to a beggar, bearing the fruit of his repentance and salvation, a faith that will keep him from Hell.

Fruit is the inevitable result of looking and living like Jesus. People will notice we are different. Fruit-bearers do not capitulate to the culture or seek to change God’s Word to fit their preferences or desires. The fruit of salvation will always glorify God, the source of all that is good and holy (John 15:8).

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Busy, Distracted, and Noisy

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Our lives are busy, distracted, and noisy. As long as this is the case, we will never experience what God intends for our lives to be. We will never experience what it is to be close to Him. To come to the full knowledge of God, our lives must revolve around nothing other than Him (Matthew 6:33). It is no small blessing that nothing on earth compares to the glory and majesty of Jesus because that means we can set our affections on the One more valuable and magnificent than any other (Colossians 3:1–2)!

Man drinking coffee, signing papers, and talking on the phone all at the same time because his life is busy, distracted, and noisy

If only we lived as if we believed this were true. Instead, we fill our minds with indecency, our ears with heresy, and our lives with irrelevancy (Philippians 4:8; 2 Timothy 4:3–4). We can not conceive of how much better our lives would be if we eschewed the fallen things of this world and lived lives devoted to the Savior of our souls.

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