Even If i Walk Alone

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

Love

Love and Free Will

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Having been created with free will, we are free to choose, free to love, and free to serve. It was for these things we were created in the very image of God Himself. Free will has a dark side as well. Since we are free to choose we are also free to hate, to be selfish, and to reject the God who gave us life. We can – and usually do – pursue whatever we desire.

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image © Sergey Nivens

There is no master blueprint for your life; that would violate the very notion of free will. God created you with everything you would need to live the incredible life He envisioned for you. It is us – you and me – who make the choices that send our lives off the rails.
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Urgency

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It’s not common for people in decent health to think of death. Most of us feel invincible. We’re aware we’ll die someday, but it always seems as if that is a long way away. People who are focused on death generally are thought to have some sort of mental or emotional problem. The real problem is as long as we remain oblivious to the frailty of our life, we will be less apt to make every moment count.

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image © BillionPhotos.com

Assuming death is years or even decades away tends to make us less focused on doing what matters most in life right now. That leads to a life diametrically opposed to the one Jesus instructed us to live.
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Christianity is…

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Christianity is misunderstood and misrepresented. Instead of a movement of people that act and look like Jesus, the word has been co-opted to identify people of a particular political bent who live a particular lifestyle. Christianity is not about people who claim they believe in God.  The Bible says even demons believe in God (James 2:19), and no one would ever call a demon by the name “Christian”!

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image © AZP Worldwide

Christianity is not a list of do’s and don’ts; it is not about saying a certain prayer or attending a certain church on Sunday. Christianity is all about believing in, and replicating, the character of God. Christianity is first, foremost, and always about love.
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What Defines You?

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We live in a world where people are constantly searching for their identity. They try and find it in their career, in their relationships, in their possessions, or in their looks. There is a gnawing ache inside each of them that longs to be filled, so life becomes a relentless pursuit to define who they are. Typically when you ask someone who they are, they respond by telling you what they do or in what circles they run.

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image © Marek

Identity is an intensely personal and internal concept that we mysteriously try and define through that which is external. Sadly, even some believers in Christ fall into this trap of Satan. In order to define ourselves, we must first understand what does not define us.
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Faith that is Fully Alive

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Josh Husmann, pastor at Mercy Road Church in Indianapolis, recently made the point that, “Your faith is most contagious when it is fully alive.” Dormant faith rarely spreads. If we aren’t living in such a way that our faith drives everything we do, we will struggle to be effective witnesses for Jesus.

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image © Maxim Malevich

When we are fully engaged in our faith, our lives take on an irresistible glow, a fire that is visible to all those with whom we come into contact. We all want a faith that is fully alive, but the struggles of our own doubts and insecurities leave our faith simmering just below the surface. It’s time to let it explode. It’s time we unleashed our faith into the world.
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