Even If i Walk Alone

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

Luke

The Mary Test

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In a recent message looking at the birth story of Jesus, my pastor posed an interesting question: “Could you pass the Mary test?” When the angel of the Lord appeared to Mary, most scholars think she was between twelve and fifteen years of age. Even in the current era of moral decline, that’s very early for a young woman to consider being pregnant.

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Can you imagine the fear she must have felt at the prospect of being a mother when she was barely in her teens? I don’t think Mary was naïve. I believe at that moment she fully understood the weight of what was being asked of her. And yet, look at the beautiful response of Mary in Luke 1:38. She said, “I am the Lord’s slave. May it be done to me according to your word.”

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Devoted to Christ

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There is a word in the Bible that causes much controversy these days because of its modern English connotation. The word is “slave” and depending on what translation you read may also be translated as servant or bondservant. Given the tensions of our day, the term servant is more palatable than the word slave, but we must recognize when the Bible uses the word, it often does not mean the same thing as it does to us today. For example, in Philippians 1:1, Paul refers to himself and Timothy as slaves of Christ.

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This is not to be construed as anything negative, but as something to which we should all aspire. The Greek word for slaves here is δοῦλος (douloi), which means “pertaining to a state of being completely controlled by someone or something”1Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 471). New York: United Bible Societies.).. Given that definition, I definitely want to be a slave to Jesus. I want my life to be devoted to Christ.

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    Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 471). New York: United Bible Societies.).

Orienting Our Lives Around Jesus

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Not long ago, I wrote an article on orienting your entire life around Christ. I want to develop that idea further because I’m not there yet and feel Jesus isn’t through working on me in this area. There was a time when people would spend their entire days working their farms, fields, and flocks. Survival was synonymous with life. Leisure time was a luxury rarely found. And yet, when Sunday came around, almost everyone was in church.

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Prayers were said around the table and before bed at night. Scripture was read by the fire before turning in. The whole of life was oriented around work and God. It harkens back to the first week of creation, when God worked six days and rested on the seventh to enjoy the work of His hands (Genesis 2:1-3). It’s almost like He knew what He was doing and defining a pattern for the way His people should live. Imagine that.

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All the Way

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Early in the book of Judges, we see Israel falling into a pattern of sin that continues to plague each of us today. In Judges 1:28, we read that, in opposition to God’s command (Deuteronomy 7:1-2; Deuteronomy 20:15–16), Israel neglected to drive out the peoples of the promised land completely. They stopped short of what God commanded them to do. The Lord told Israel to eradicate the idolatrous people from the land. If they didn’t, the people might tempt them to follow other gods.

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Israel drove out most of the people, but they stopped short of going all the way. They became complacent and figured what they had done was good enough. But stopping short of complete obedience to God is never good enough. It shows a lack of faith, a lack of commitment, laziness, or perhaps all the above. What it does not reflect is a sold-out devotion to Jesus.

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Do You Love Me More Than These?

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Many of us know the story of Jesus restoring Peter to fellowship with Him. We find the story in John 21:15-19, and much has been written and taught about this passage. The first question Jesus asked Peter was, “Do you love me more than these?” He may have been asking whether Peter loved Him more than the other disciples did, or perhaps if Peter loved Jesus more than he did his fellow disciples.

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Another option is Jesus may have been asking Peter if He loved the nourishment of God over bodily nourishment (they were eating breakfast after a night of hard fishing). While people teach the first two more often, I’d like to focus on the third option. I think “Do you love me more than these?” is a good question for us all to ask every day.

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