Even If i Walk Alone

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

James

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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Big Prayers

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Our faith is so small. It’s as if we are children of a multi-billionaire but never ask for anything more than a pack of gum from our father. God has so much He desires to share with us, but we are too weak-minded to understand and too immature to grasp all that our position in life affords us. We are co-heirs with Jesus to all God has (Romans 8:16-17).

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And yet, most of our prayers are for tiny trinkets and selfish comforts. Why don’t we pray big prayers? Are we afraid God won’t answer in the way we desire, so we shy away? I submit we don’t pray big prayers because our faith is far too small. The more we trust Christ, the bigger our prayers will become.

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Careless Words

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Memories of words spoken to us and by us mark each of our lives. The words of someone else have hurt each of us, and we have all wounded someone with our words. Words have caused more violence than any weapon mankind has ever created. Careless words destroy another’s dreams, tear down confidence, and instill wrong beliefs. Oh, what damage we do when we pay no attention to what comes out of our mouths.

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We could avoid so much pain if we would only be intentional about the words we speak. Perhaps nothing will define us more than our words. If we want to live like Jesus, we must exercise discipline with what we allow to spill from our lips.

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Fear the Right Things

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Jesus taught we should not fear those who can kill our bodies but not harm our souls. Rather, the only one we should fear is the One who can destroy both our body and soul in Hell (Matthew 10:28). Fear is inevitable for all of us, but we must fear the right things. If we fear the wrong things, we will live our lives without joy and even in a state of paralysis.

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Those who know Christ need not fear anything in this world. Everything here is temporary, so anything we would fear will be temporary as well. Recognizing all pain, discomfort, sickness, or need is temporary should alleviate much of the anxiety we tend to feel.

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Read Slowly

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The more I study the Bible, the more I recognize when it comes to God’s Word, we should read slowly. Scripture is replete with admonitions to meditate on the words of God. Meditating and delighting on God’s instruction is a regular theme throughout the book of Psalms (Psalm 1:1-2, Psalm 19:7-14, Psalm 77:12, Psalm 119:15, Psalm 119:23, Psalm 119:27, Psalm 119:48, Psalm 119:78, Psalm 119:97, Psalm 119:99, Psalm 119:148, Psalm 143:5)

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and many other places throughout scripture (Joshua 1:8, Jeremiah 15:16, Nehemiah 8:1-3, Matthew 7:24-25, James 1:22-25, Philippians 4:8, Colossians 3:16). The Bible is not a book meant to be read like other books. We don’t read God’s Word to get through it, but to let it marinade our souls. When we read too quickly, we often miss the details and subtle nuances. There is no part of scripture we can afford to miss or gloss over (2 Timothy 3:16).

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