Even If i Walk Alone

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

Matthew

Living in Obedience

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Because of my Scottish heritage, I think I’m biased towards Scottish thinkers and writers. One of my favorites is Andrew Murray, a minister in the 1800s. Murray was a devoted disciple who left many soul-searching and convicting books as his legacy. As I was reading some of his writing this week, I saw this: “The Father in heaven asks, requires, and expects all of His children to give Him whole-hearted and entire obedience all day long, every single day.”

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It seems like a daunting task, but then I suppose if it was easy, we would find many more joining us. If it was easy, the path would be wide instead of narrow (Matthew 7:13-14). No, following Jesus is not the easy path in life, but it is the only one worth following. And if we will brave this path, we must understand it requires our obedience to Jesus every step along the way.

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Self-Promotion

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To me, the teachings of A. W. Tozer remain timeless. Perhaps no one else in history resonates with me as he does. Though he passed away nearly sixty years ago, his words are as relevant today as they were when he was preaching. The things he said are almost prescient. In a quote I read from him this week, he said, “I am not in the business of promoting myself; I am in the business of surrendering to the Holy Spirit.”

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Today, self-promotion is all the rage. It’s all about how many followers we have on Facebook, how many likes we have on Instagram, and whether we’re trending on Twitter. A new goal for many is to produce a video that goes viral on YouTube. Today the aim is getting the eyeballs of others to look at what we’re doing.

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Discipleship

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer pulled no punches. In his classic, “The Cost of Discipleship”, he wrote, “Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.” I write extensively on discipleship for the same reason. If you aren’t pursuing a life of discipleship with Jesus, I believe the Bible is clear: Jesus does not know you (Matthew 7:21-23; John 14:15). That’s a strong statement, I know. But we’ve been dancing around this subject for too long.

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We don’t want to seem judgmental or offensive, so we add caveats and couch our words to make them seem less harsh. The result is that millions of people who believe they are Christians are not. It is perhaps the most sinister and ingenious deception Satan has ever unleashed. He continues to deploy this strategy today. It has so infected our churches that most don’t even realize the deception under which they are living.

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Live Like Jesus

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“This generation of believers is responsible for this generation of souls”. Keith Green said that about 40 years ago, and it still resonates with me today. If we don’t model Jesus for others, how will they ever know who He is? As David Platt recently said, “People can’t be what they don’t see.” The apostle Paul said, “How will people come to know Jesus if we don’t tell them about Him?” (Romans 10:14). It is the responsibility of every believer to tell others about Christ.

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We also must make disciples out of those who respond to God’s call (Matthew 28:19-20). We are the boots on the ground for the Kingdom of God. We have a mission. Now is not the time to get lazy. The battle is raging hotter than ever before and we have a role to play in it. Our job is to live like Jesus so others can see what it looks like to follow Him.

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Leave Nothing Undone

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Elisabeth Elliot wrote, “If we really have too much to do, there are some items on the agenda that God did not put there.” That is both true and convicting. We have enough time to do in this life what God has given us to do in it. If we focus our lives on Jesus, we will leave nothing undone. Nothing can thwart His sovereign will, and the work He has given us to do will get done.

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Yet, how often are we harried and hurried, racing to fit one more thing into our schedule only to lament later that we will never have enough time to get it all done? As Mrs. Eliot suggested, perhaps we need to examine what it is we are busy doing. There is both rest and peace in the will of Jesus, not franticness and stress.

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