Even If i Walk Alone

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

I Peter

Never Say Amen

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We should spend our lives in constant prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Some portions of the Bible can be confusing to understand without deeper study, but most of it is perfectly clear for anyone to understand. This command to “pray constantly” is one of those teachings. There is no way to interpret this command as making sure we have a ten-minute quiet time in the morning, or that we give thanks before a meal.

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Those are fine things to practice, but they are only part of what the Bible commands us to do. To pray constantly means we never say amen. All day and every day, we are to be in perpetual communication with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

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Eternal or Temporal

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Every day it becomes more urgent to devote our lives to God and to prove our love for Him by the way we live. We don’t work to prove our love to God, but we live in obedience to His commands as proof of our love for God (John 14:15). If we love Him, our lives will reflect that fact and will not look like the lives of those who oppose God.

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Everything we experience in life will have either an eternal or temporal value. Jesus teaches we should focus on the eternal things that do not rust, rot, or decay (Matthew 6:19-21). Meanwhile, we live our lives seeking and consuming the temporal things that never last and leave us feeling emptier than we felt before indulging in them.

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We Must Obey

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As we continue to examine if we truly love God (see “Do We Love Him” and “We Must Keep His Commands”), let’s first lay a little theological groundwork. We know all scripture is God-breathed and inspired by His Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21). This means every word, and therefore every instruction, in the Bible, is a command of Christ. He is the Word of God in the flesh (John 1:1-3).

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Every time the scripture instructs us, we must obey. That is what it means to love Christ (John 14:15; 1 John 5:2-4). The book of James teaches us those who would live lives acceptable to God will keep themselves unstained by the world (James 1:27). Therefore, if we love Jesus, we will keep ourselves away from the temptations and habits of our culture. Let’s look at some practical implications this has for the way we live.

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The Reason We Sin

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The reason we sin is that we reject the commitment we once made to Christ. When we live our lives as if we are the center of the universe, we forget our lives are not our own. God has purchased us for an astronomical price and we are now the sole property of Jesus. The Bible declares we are slaves to Christ (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Ephesians 6:6; Galatians 1:10; 1 Peter 2:16).

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Because of the modern connotation of the word “slave”, we immediately bristle at the thought of being anyone’s slave. But don’t let modern culture and human injustice allow you to deny the holy and inspired Word of God. We are slaves of Christ, bought at the price of Him dying in our place. It is a debt we can never repay.

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A Deeper Dive into Personal Holiness

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Anyone who is paying attention will know our churches are becoming increasingly weak and ineffective. Leadership that is lacking in theological depth and understanding is certainly rampant, but perhaps the bigger problem is the lack of personal holiness among the congregation. Although it is the pastor’s job to exposit and explain the Word each time he steps behind the pulpit, pursuing Christ on a day-to-day basis is the responsibility of every attendee.

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Without such a commitment, the finest preacher or most gifted shepherd will not be able to lead a group of believers into a deeply committed relationship with Christ. Each of us bears the responsibility of seeking to know and obey our savior better. For this reason, I want to do a brief but deeper dive into personal holiness.

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