Even If i Walk Alone

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

Matthew

The Life of a Disciple

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Every day we must choose whether we will follow Jesus. There are so many things that pull at us as we go throughout our day. Things we enjoy, things we’d like to purchase, and various ways to relax. Life is hard, and sometimes we just want to zone out and not do anything. But this isn’t an option in the life of a disciple. We are to live our lives like that of Jesus.

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We don’t get days off, and we shouldn’t want them. Every second of our lives, time is ticking down. Time is running out to tell others about Jesus. If we don’t act today – and every day – we could be responsible for someone not hearing about Christ.

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A Higher Standard

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Maybe it’s just me. You won’t find it explicitly in the Bible, and I will be the last to add anything to the Word of God. Still, it appears it is at least implied that disciples of Jesus should live their lives held to a higher standard. After all, our model is none other than Jesus Christ. How could we help but live dramatically different lives than those around us? It’s what He did.

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We too easily surrender to the malaise of Western Christianity and forget the purpose of our lives. Our mission is to tell everyone the good news of Jesus. It’s to look after the orphans, widows, sick, impoverished, and imprisoned (James 1:27; Matthew 25:31-46). And we are to do these things with excellence (Colossians 3:23-24).

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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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