Even If i Walk Alone

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

James

Outsiders

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If you follow Jesus with any consistency in this life, you’re going to find yourself as a cultural outsider. There’s no way around it. Our values are different. Our morals are different. Even our goals in life are different. We are not of this world, and we do not live like we are of this world (John 17:14-16). The very act of following Jesus Christ puts you on the outside, looking in on the rest of the world. You’ll be weird.

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The people of this world will hate, despise, and maybe even kill you. For certain, they will never understand you. Jesus lived on the outside too and he promised we would face trouble (John 16:33). He told us in advance that the world would hate us because it hated him (John 15:18-19). Authentic followers of Jesus will never be on the inside of the coolest and most popular circles. They will always be outsiders.

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Desire to Be Holy

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Martin Llyod Jones once said, “If you do not desire to be holy, I do not see that you have any right to think that you are a Christian.” That’s the kind of truth we no longer hear from our pulpits. There was a time when men of God would proclaim God’s Word and its difficult but unassailable implications to nourish the souls of their congregants.

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The vast majority of preachers today know nothing of this kind of preaching, but fall into the category of those who love to tickle itching ears (2 Timothy 4:3-4). They say what people want to hear to make them feel a little better about themselves. A message imploring personal holiness is all but unheard in our churches today.

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Good News

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Do you ever wonder if there’s any good news anymore? When was the last time you turned on the television or scrolled through your social media feed and found stories celebrating kindness, happiness, good character, or high morals? Instead, we see a steady diet of hate, division, perversion, and idolatry. It’s no wonder suicide rates and depression are at all-time highs.

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Media now rules every aspect of society. It’s inescapable, and there is no doubt it has become Satan’s greatest tool. The murder and mutilation of children is not only accepted, but celebrated on the front pages of newspapers and websites around the globe. The world has lost its mind and any sense of hope is being dragged down into the pits of Hell (Romans 1:28-32).

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Focus and Discipline

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The continuing decline of morality and abandonment of God in our culture and churches highlights the need for focus and discipline in our lives. We need to reorient our minds to embrace a complete focus on God while disciplining our actions and endeavors to reflect our devotion to Christ. Otherwise, we are no different from those who don’t know Jesus.

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We are called to be different, to live lives that are set apart from the world (Romans 12:2). As we observe the downward spiral of humanity, we gnash our teeth and shake our heads and fists, but we never see ourselves as part of the problem.

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When It’s All Said and Done

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When it’s all said and done, only what we do for Jesus will remain. We understand that, right? We believe that. It doesn’t take a genius to understand we take nothing of this world with us when we die (1 Timothy 6:7). All we accumulate on earth will be stripped from us the moment we breathe our last, and probably well before then. We know that and we affirm that, but we don’t live as if it’s true.

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Instead, we spend our entire lives pursuing things we know we can’t keep (Matthew 6:19-20). We consume all our time chasing after what will be taken from us instead of devoting our lives to the One we cannot lose (Philippians 3:8). How weak and deceived must we be to live like this?

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