Even If i Walk Alone

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

Isaiah

The Mercy of God

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How much time do you spend thinking about the mercy of God? If you are like me, not enough! God is holy, and His standard for our lives is holiness. (1 Peter 1:15-16; Leviticus 19:2) Not one of us can measure up to that. Every one of us has sinned and fallen short of the standard. (Romans 3:23) The penalty for such failure is death. (Romans 6:23) Those are God’s rules, and if we don’t like them, then we don’t understand what it means to be holy.

Holiness cannot tolerate sin because if it did, that holiness would be lost. (Habakkuk 1:13; Psalm 5:4-5) As sinful beings, we then have no hope of escaping God’s judgment. (Hebrews 9:27; Romans 2:5-6) No hope, that is, except for the mercy of God. He loves us so much that He made a way to deliver us from His just wrath and punishment. (Romans 5:8-9; Ephesians 2:4-5)

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I Need God Now

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When facing a crisis, have you ever said, or heard someone say, “I need God now?” It’s true we need God in times of chaos and trouble. It is also true that we need Him every other second of life. Without God, even for the smallest moment, the entire universe would collapse upon itself. (Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:3) There is no part of life that can survive except for the sustaining hand of our Creator. (Acts 17:24-25; Job 34:14-15)

We don’t just need Him when times are tough; we need Him at all times. This is a shift we must all make to mature in our faith. There is not what we do and what God does; He does it all. We are powerless to affect anything in this life without the providence of God’s power and His will.

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So Simple

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The way to eternal life is so simple. A teacher of the Law, hoping to trip Jesus up, asked Him what one needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus didn’t respond with an elegant, long-winded answer or a sophisticated process through which we can be saved. Rather, the Lord turned the question back on the scribe by asking the man what scripture said about his question.

The teacher answered, “To love the Lord with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.” Jesus affirmed the man’s answer and told him that if he would do this, he would live. (Luke 10:25-28) There was no way anyone could misunderstand His answer, no way anyone could twist it to fit their ideas. Love the Lord with everything you’ve got, and you will have eternal life.

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Man of Sorrows

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True disciples of Jesus seek to live a life that looks just like Jesus. Indeed, God’s Word commands us to walk just as Jesus walked, to live just as He did. (1 John 2:6; Ephesians 5:1-2) And yet somewhere along the line we got the idea that Jesus calls us to be happy. Jesus was called the Man of Sorrows. (Isaiah 53:3) Does that sound like He was living a life of happiness, health, and wealth?

Any preacher promising that Jesus wants you to live your best life now is ignorant of what the Word of God teaches. Jesus came to suffer and also promised us we would suffer in this life. (Isaiah 53:4-5; John 16:33; 2 Timothy 3:12) Following Jesus is about obedience, not autonomy; sacrifice, not accumulation. Our Lord promised to give us life to the fullest, but we won’t find that fullness until we reign with Him in His eternal Kingdom. (John 10:10; Revelation 22:1-5)

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Circumstances Don’t Matter

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Perhaps the one thing humans do better than anything else is to rationalize. We are always looking for reasons to justify our actions, especially when we know those actions are not right in the eyes of God. It’s amazing how good we can be at convincing ourselves to believe our own nonsense. And we know it’s nonsense. We know in our hearts what is right and what is wrong because the Holy Spirit always makes it clear.

But what about the circumstances surrounding our decision? Let’s be clear about what God’s Word says. Circumstances don’t matter; obedience does. (1 Samuel 15:22; John 14:15) The only decision is whether you will listen to a holy and perfect God or your imperfect and selfish heart.

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