Even If i Walk Alone

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

I John

The Practice of Sin

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You can’t be a disciple of Jesus and willfully continue to live in sin. Sin will repulse a regenerated heart. The apostle John had much to say about this in his first epistle. He defined sin as practicing lawlessness (1 John 3:4). Another way to say this might be that we sin whenever we rebel against God’s laws. Continuing on a few verses later, John makes it clear if we are born again (born of God), we will not make a practice of sinning (1 John 3:9).

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We can’t do that because God abides in us and sin is abhorrent to Him. As human beings, we will sin. We’re not perfect. But as followers of Jesus, we won’t make a habit of sinning. When we sin, we will immediately be horrified by our failure and repent of it.

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How Then Should We Live?

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What is the purpose in life for those who declare Jesus Christ as their Lord? How, then, should we live? If we spend our lives pursuing the same things as those who reject Christ, what then is the point of our commitment to Him? There has to be something different about the way we live. The world around us is caught up in a selfish pursuit to find pleasure, safety, and comfort.

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Is that all there is? Is that the reason Christ died for us? There has to be more. Somewhere along the line, we lost track of what it means to live a life wholly devoted to Christ and began living a life devoted to our comfort and happiness. If we don’t return to living for Jesus, the consequences will be grave and eternal.

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Citizens of Heaven

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As believers in Christ, we are citizens of Heaven (Philippians 3:19-20). This world is no longer our home. As Larry Norman reminded us fifty years ago, we’re only visiting this planet. It sounds bizarre when you say it out loud, but the truth is often that way. Our time here is temporary. Eternity with Christ awaits us. While I don’t believe we should squander our time on earth, just biding our time until we see Jesus,

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I also believe it’s important to keep the proper perspective while we are here. Think of it as an extended business trip with an occasional vacation. We know we’re going to be leaving, so there’s no point in getting attached to anything. We have a job to do and very little time to do it.

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Days of Trouble

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What are we to make of this world today? Political unrest, divisiveness, viruses, and no one seems overly happy. What side should we take? What is our duty as Christians? Our duty is the same as it always has been. We are to seek God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). James told us to keep ourselves unentangled with the world (James 1:27). The Apostle John told us we must not love the things of this world (I John 2:15).

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I think one reason we feel such stress and frustration today is that we had gotten overly comfortable with the world. Now that the world is changing, we’re upset because our focus has been on the world instead of Jesus. He never changes. If we had kept our focus on Him, much of what is occurring in the world today would not phase us.

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No Exceptions

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One thing I love about the Bible is also the same thing that makes me uncomfortable. It’s the fact there are no exceptions to the commandments of God. We don’t get to rationalize about our sin to help us feel better about ourselves. Jesus said He is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to have eternal life (John 14:6).

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He didn’t say He was a way; He said He was the way. No exceptions. Jesus didn’t leave any loopholes when He said if we love Him, we will obey Him. He didn’t say we will often obey. He simply said we would obey Him. The implication is we will spend our lives living in obedience to Christ. No exceptions.

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