Even If i Walk Alone

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

Matthew

The Direction of Your Life

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One of the wonderful things about human beings is we can change the direction of our lives any time we desire. Sometimes this involves major life changes, like switching jobs, going back to school, or retiring. At other times, the change in direction is based in its entirety on adjusting our attitude or the habits we nurture. While wrapping any of these changes in New Year’s resolutions is a popular practice, no one needs to wait until then to change the trajectory of their lives.

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No matter how near or far away the next New Year is, you can decide to change your life today. There is no greater change you can make than deciding to follow Jesus with everything you have in every area of your life (Luke 9:23-24). No decision will have a greater impact on the direction of your life (2 Corinthians 5:17).

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The Day After

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As Christians, we make much of Christmas Day, and for good reason. Only once in history did God come to earth as a human baby, born of a virgin, and destined to die on our behalf (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:22-23; Luke 2:10-11). Never had God set aside His glory to take on human flesh (John 1:14; Philippians 2:5-8). Never had a virgin conceived (Luke 1:34-35).

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Best of all, never did we have such grace poured out on men that though we will all die, through Christ we may yet live (Romans 6:23; John 11:25-26). When we celebrate Christmas, we celebrate all this, and so much more. One day each year, we put aside our selfishness and marvel at the miracle of Jesus’s birth and all its future implications. But what about the day after Christmas?

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Make the Most of It

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When you meet Jesus, will He find that you’ve made the most of your life in this world, while thinking little of the life to come? I hope not. When choosing how to spend our life on earth, we must make the most of it. We only get one trip through this life. One journey to define our allegiance, one adventure to create a story.

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What is the story you are writing? Is it one filled with achievement, wealth, power, and conquest? Or is it one of surrender, submission, purpose, and humility? Which of those stories do you think God intends for you to write? Which will bring glory and honor to Him (1 Corinthians 10:31)?

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Abide in Him

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The book of 1 John is replete with passages from the apostle admonishing us to abide in Christ. Some versions translate the word “abide” as “remain”. Both words convey what is at stake here. It’s not enough to believe in the gospel and accept Jesus as your Lord in a single moment in time. Those whose commitment to Christ is genuine will spend their lives seeking to be more like Jesus (1 John 2:6).

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They will desire to abide in Him because they feel out of place anywhere else (Philippians 3:19-20; John 15:4-5). To remain in Him is to avoid being swayed by every false teaching, tossed about by any new so-called revelation (Ephesians 4:14). The Lord doesn’t want us to chase after religious fads or whims, but only to abide in Him (Colossians 2:6-7).

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We Love Sin

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Did you ever wonder why the world hates Christianity, and by extension, Christ so much? The world doesn’t care if you’re a Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu, but a Christian? That’s unacceptable. Years ago, Matthew Henry wrote, “Christ is hated because sin is loved.” Deep down, we all know that’s true. We love sin (John 3:19). Even those of us who follow Christ and reject sin know that our affection for it never goes away (Romans 7:15-20).

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Our natural desire from birth is to sin, to follow the patterns of this world, and to resist anything that would restrict our freedom to pursue sin (Ephesians 2:1-3). I’m uncomfortable with even the thought that I might love sin, and it’s difficult to write it in such a public place. But if we didn’t love sin, we would not struggle to follow the commands of God (Romans 7:21-24).

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