Even If i Walk Alone

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

Matthew

The Truth about Self-Gratification

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In a recent sermon, David Platt asked, “Will we live for self-gratification or God-glorification?” Those are our only two options. We will live for God or we will live for ourselves. Living for ourselves is a more palatable way of saying we will live to glorify Satan. That sounds harsh and shocking. We don’t want to think in those terms, which is why we mask it with words like selfishness and self-gratification.

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But know this, there are only two powers in the spiritual realm: God and Satan. Jesus spoke plainly when He said we cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). We will love the one and hate the other. Every time we say no to Jesus, we say yes to the devil. This is the uncomfortable truth that applies to every decision we make, word we speak, or action we take.

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Blind Spots

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It’s easy to point fingers at the failures of others while ignoring our shortcomings. Jesus warned against this tendency by advising us to remove the log from our eye before commenting on the speck in the eye of our brother (Matthew 7:4-5). Sometimes, as we are refining our walk with Christ, we become blind to our less developed disciplines. It is common for us all to gravitate to certain portions of Scripture that resonate the most with us.

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Too often though, we do so to the detriment of studying other parts and we develop blind spots. It’s a good practice to read some passages with which you don’t frequently engage to see what you might be missing and identify any blind spots you may have. I don’t get through many mornings reading Scripture without being convicted of something.

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Finding Life

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Where are you finding life today? We seek satisfaction in many things, but none of them will last, and none are worthy of your life. It’s no wonder why those who don’t know Christ would chase after so many things trying to find some meaning or to make sense of this life. But for followers of Jesus, we’ve got to recognize our pursuit of anything other than Jesus is futile.

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God created us to glorify Him. Too often we buy into the lie that the story is about us. We ask questions like, “What does God want me to do with my life?” It’s a terrible question, flawed at its premise. There is no “my” life. It belongs to God. A better question would be, “How can I best glorify God and manifest His Kingdom today?”

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Tell Someone About Jesus

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Much of what we discuss here is about personal discipleship. Almost nothing is more important in the life of a believer than growing in their relationship with Christ. But if all we’re doing is growing in our faith, we won’t be doing everything Jesus told us to do. Our primary mission is to reflect God’s light into a dark world, and we can’t do that well unless we tell someone about Jesus.

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The last command Christ gave before ascending into Heaven was to go throughout the entire world telling people about Him (Matthew 28:18-20). This passage of Scripture has come to be known as “the great commission”. Notice Jesus didn’t say to isolate ourselves, devoting all our time to prayer and Bible study. He said to tell everyone about the good news of His life, death, resurrection, and salvation.

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Growing Deeper

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As we embark on a new year, we have the opportunity to devote it to Christ. With our culture eroding at an ever-increasing pace, it feels like it is more important than ever to surrender everything to Jesus and to grow deeper in our faith. The Western Church has long been isolated from the persecution so many of our brothers and sisters around the world encounter every day.

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Until now, at least from outward appearances, we’ve been allowed to survive and even thrive despite the prevailing winds of the culture. Without wanting to sound like an alarmist, I am convinced those days will end, and much sooner than any of us ever thought possible.

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