Even If i Walk Alone

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

Jeremiah

Bad Advice

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There is a lot of bad advice out there. Some of the worst advice we can ever give to someone is to say, “Follow your heart.” This advice is rampant in self-help circles and the culture at large. To someone waffling between options or contemplating a career change, it sounds like wise counsel. But as is often the case, the wisdom of man is foolishness (1 Corinthians 3:18-20). Jesus never told people to follow their hearts. He told them to follow Him (John 8:12; John 12:26).

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When you follow your heart, you will be listening to your carnal desires. God’s Word says the heart is more deceitful than anything else and incurable (Jeremiah 17:9). When we follow our heart, we are deceiving ourselves. We are playing ourselves for the fool. Only by following Jesus will we ever find the peace, rest, and fulfillment that our hearts desire.

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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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Human Trafficking and Slavery

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Recently I watched the movie, “Sound of Freedom,” which details some of the horrors of human trafficking and slavery. For reasons I cannot fathom after viewing the film, the media has done their best to demonize the film, calling it right-wing conspiracy and political fodder. There is nothing remotely political in the film, and aside from the quoting of a Bible verse, nothing to identify it as any sort of Christian film. There is also no shortage of controversy surrounding the real-life protagonist of the film and his organization.

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But all of that is just noise to distract from the very real tragedy of human trafficking. Of course, exact statistics on the number of people trafficked or enslaved are impossible to gather, but conservative estimates are 25 million individuals trafficked each year, and close to 50 million who are living in modern-day slavery. These are not numbers any follower of Jesus should be comfortable with.

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Standing Firm on the Word

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A cashier shared with me she had lost her husband last year. She told me when he was about to breathe his last breath, he asked her to put his Bible under his feet. In her grief, she didn’t immediately comprehend the meaning of the request. The man’s brother cleared it up for her. He explained his brother wanted to die standing firm on the Word of God.

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I thought it was a beautiful picture and a sign of a life well lived. To never waver or compromise the truth of God’s Word is the calling of every follower of Jesus. Not only should we stand firm in times of trouble, but we must stand firm when things are easy and going our way. Never forget or take for granted the reason for our hope.

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What is God?

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Do you believe in God? According to a recent Gallup poll, 81% of Americans say they do. The better question is, what is it they claim to believe? Or simply, “What is God?” In another poll, Gallup found that 29% of Americans believe the Bible is a collection of “fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by man.” That means there is at least some overlap between those who say they believe in God and those who do not believe the Bible to be God’s Word.

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So, who or what is this God in whom they say they believe? Before asking someone if they believe in God, we should first define who or what God is. It is a given that followers of Christ believe in God. After all, Jesus is God and God is Jesus (John 10:30; John 14:10; John 17:10-11). That is who God is.

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