Even If i Walk Alone

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

Matthew

Selfless

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Are you selfless? I’m not talking about being a person who readily helps others. That’s part of it, sure. But a truly selfless disciple has forsaken everything for the love and mission of Jesus. When we are selfless, we no longer think of ourselves. We think of Jesus, and we think of how we might reflect Him to others. Society does everything it can to convince you life is all about you. You deserve to have nice things, a nice place to live, a good job, and a sense of safety; you deserve to be comfortable.

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Except you don’t. As I’ve said before, what you (and me) deserve is to spend eternity separated from our Creator. We spend the bulk of our days in abject rebellion to our professed “Lord”. We deserve nothing good. But our selfishness convinces us it’s not true. We listen to society and live selfish instead of selfless lives.

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Abundant Living

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When we have surrendered ourselves to the purposes for which God created us to do, we are as willing to be deprived of our personal dreams and happiness as we are to celebrate them. I think it’s a key to knowing whether or not we have fully committed our lives to Jesus. Are we as happy when our dreams are taken from us as when we are excelling in them?

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When we understand the character of God, we will comprehend our fullest, happiest, and most enjoyable life comes from being fully alive in His presence, regardless of what circumstances may be swirling around us. There is a confident peace and comfort when we have given ourselves fully to Christ.

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Minimalism

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I’ve been investigating the concept of minimalism a lot lately. For those not familiar with the idea, minimalism is essentially stripping your life to the essentials of things that add value or bring joy (for a great expansion on this topic, see Joshua Becker’s article, “What is Minimalism?”). The reason I mention it here is I believe minimalism ties in directly to being a disciple of Jesus. In fact, I would argue Jesus Himself was a minimalist. Minimalism is consistent with Christ’s teaching to sell your possessions and give to the poor (Matthew 19:16-22).

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It aligns with the fact Jesus had no home of His own (Matthew 8:19-20), with the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12), and with His instructions in the well-known parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46). You don’t have to become a minimalist to be a disciple of Jesus, but if you are serious about living as He did, I believe you will be drawn towards minimalism.

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Your Life Purpose

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What is your life purpose? This isn’t a self-help or live your dreams type of article. As a follower of Jesus, your life purpose should be self-evident, but for too many it is not. The tendency is for our days to pass without much conscious or intentional thought about living for Jesus. We fall into our schedules and routines far too casually and comfortably. Jesus is – at best – left watching from the sidelines.

your life purpose,commitment,selfishness,living for Jesus,love your neighbor,love the Lord your God,sheep and the goats,depart from me,Matthew 7:22-23,Hebrews 13:2,Matthew 25:31-46,Luke 10:25-28

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This isn’t how it should be and it must stop. We can’t spend our lives living for ourselves and expect to spend eternity living with Christ. Our lives must be different from those around us. And this must start now.
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Are You Ready to Die?

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I was recently having a conversation with a friend of mine who is a fellow believer. They expressed being anxious about dying because all they know is here, and they don’t know how things will be on the other side of life. Further, they stated they enjoyed their life and friends and would miss them. I shared some things I hope were comforting, but I walked away a bit devastated and wondering how many other followers of Christ feel as my friend does.

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My suspicion is a great number of believers are indeed content with their life and face some trepidation about what the afterlife may hold. I decided to address both those who share the anxiety of my friend, and also those who – like myself – find it very difficult to relate to that line of thinking.
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