Even If i Walk Alone

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

mission

The Dangers of Autopilot

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Too often when I drive to work, I end up pulling into a parking spot without remembering anything about the drive there. I know I took on-ramps and off-ramps, negotiated intersections and stoplights, yet I have no recollection of any of it. I was thinking of this phenomenon when I was in the shower this morning, because as I reached back to turn off the water, I realized I had no recollection of shampooing, conditioning or washing. Since I was certain that I had not simply stood there for the last 20 minutes getting wet, I wasn’t too concerned about being clean. The simple fact is that we often engage an autopilot of sorts for tasks we repeat regularly. Our muscle memory allows us to perform the necessary steps in the proper order to achieve the desired results. This might be okay for showering and driving (okay, maybe it’s just a tad bit dangerous for driving), but it can be detrimental to our spiritual life.

How many times have you read a passage of Scripture, and upon completion find you have no idea what you just read? This is especially easy to do with Bible stories that many of us have grown up hearing our entire lives. We know how they begin and how they end, so any mystery is pretty much nonexistent. Contrast this with those moments when you read Scripture and a new revelation all but leaps off the page at you. A passage you’ve read dozens, perhaps even hundreds of times, suddenly takes on a whole new meaning and lights you up inside. What is the difference? It’s really all in our approach and our attitude. When we pray and ask God to reveal His word to us, when we pick up the Bible with every intention of learning something new, we more often than not will find it. However, if we are simply reading out of a sense of duty or propriety, our autopilot engages and we read without comprehension. It takes focus to seek out and learn new things. Focus is hard, of course, so we often opt for the much easier autopilot course. Following Jesus is rarely easy and it is always a conscious choice. If we are serious about following Him, learning from Him, then we must be willing to put sincere effort into studying His Word with focus and intensity.

Another area where we get in trouble using autopilot is in our family relationships. Sometimes it is so much easier to live a life that looks like Jesus when we are among strangers or friends than it is when we are in our own homes. It is easy to lose focus when surrounded by those who are closest to us because we know they will love and forgive us no matter what. Suddenly our efforts to control our tongue or to maintain an attitude of service are forgotten and we revert to a life that looks like anything but Christ. Our autopilot kicks in and we mindlessly while away what should be the most important hours of our day. Jesus never let up on His concentration; He never ceased living out His mission. If we would live like Jesus, we must engage in the model He demonstrated for us. At home it will take even more work to remain focused and on mission, but the effort is more than worth it since these are the ones with whom we have chosen to spend our lives. Imagine the peace in your household if you were to model Jesus in all of your interactions. Autopilot has no place in our relationships.

Be careful not to live your life on autopilot. Jesus deserves our devotion and our full attention. I don’t want to be like the disciples who fell asleep while keeping watch with Jesus. I want to live my life fully awake and completely aware of His presence. If Jesus thought my life was worth dying for, then surely His life is worth our attention. We must not give lip service to following Christ. A true follower will stay focused and on mission with a passionate intensity. He is the lover of our souls and the Lord of our lives. Let’s take care to stay off of autopilot and to live intentionally for Him.

Start a New Dream

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All of us have faced great discouragement in our lives. Some may currently be in the depths of despair, losing hope, and seeing few options available to change their situation. Humility was an attribute modeled by Jesus, and it is in the toughest of times that we have the opportunity to grow and express our own humility. As difficult as our circumstances might appear, suffering builds character; if we let them, our trials can be a springboard to great new opportunities and a whole new season in life.

Nothing is forever except the love of God. We allow Satan to so thoroughly defeat us that we begin to believe the lie that where we are is all there is; we buy into the deception that happiness and fulfillment is for other people not for us. I can almost hear the cackle of demonic forces when I look at people who are so down that they no longer have any concept of up. Each one of us was created in the very image of God. This means we were created to be beautiful, loving, successful, confident and extraordinarily capable people. The entrance of sin into our world has damaged our outlook, but it has far from destroyed our destiny.

All of us, regardless of circumstance, handicap or station has the unique ability to start a new dream right here and right now. One of the great facts of life is that as long as we have a breath remaining, we get the privilege of a “do-over”. Regardless of what has happened, what you’ve done or where you’ve been, you can begin again today. By sending Jesus to die on the cross for our mistakes, for our sins, it became an established fact that God is the God of second chances. By the blood of Jesus and by His mercy and grace, we have the option to have our entire past washed away and swept clean; what were once regrets can now become opportunities for growth. Instead of dwelling on past failures, make right what you can and forgive yourself for those things which you can not correct; then move on. You cannot live a life following Jesus while at the same time being a defeated individual. The power of Christ simply won’t allow it. The closer you draw to Him, the more you will be bathed in His power and made whole.

Allowing God to pull you out of your pit of hopelessness is never easy. Entrenched habits and opinions will claw mercilessly at you, attempting to hold you down. It will take an extraordinary amount of work on your part. Change is hard, but the alternative is worse. Change requires discipline, and we humans tend to rail against anything that restricts our selfish desire to do what we want to do. When you begin to develop the mental muscle required for discipline, constantly ask yourself, “Am I the person I want to be? Am I happy with the life I have? Am I the beautiful, creative, confident person I was created to be?” If the answer to any of those questions is ‘no’, then it is time to change. Determine one thing you can do today to move yourself toward being who God created you to be; take one action that will put you one step closer to Jesus. When tempted to stray from your new course, simply ask yourself, “Which decision brings me closer to the person I was created to be; which choice brings me closer to Jesus?” After mastering one discipline, choose one more thing that will improve your life. Much like a snowball rolling downhill, discipline gains momentum and strength the longer it is allowed to develop. Start small, but do start.

John Lawry once wrote a lyric that has stuck with me for the last 20 years and has had a profound impact on my life: “We are what we are, because of what we allow; are we becoming what we want to be?” The choice is ours. The blood of Jesus, His sacrifice for us, provides the opportunity to begin again and to start fresh. That opportunity is available to each one of us and at any time. It will not be easy and it will require plenty of sweat equity on our behalf. Are you willing to work for it? Are you willing to change? Will you be content with who you are or will you choose to become the one God created you to be? If you are discouraged, defeated, or broken in any way, determine that today is the last day you will feel like this. Take a step towards Jesus; reach for His hand. He waits patiently to lead you to a life beyond compare, a life spent following Him. Close your eyes and take a deep breath; now open your eyes and begin to live again.

Holy Dissatisfied

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The call of Jesus is simple. Love God with all that you are and love everyone else in the same manner. Feed the hungry, care for the sick, the widows and the orphans. Live a life of service; reflect God’s love to everyone you meet. This was and is the mission of Jesus Christ.

If you failed to recognize modern Christianity in the paragraph above, you are not alone. Christians have become known as an intolerant bunch of self-righteous homophobiacs who build big comfortable buildings with high walls in an apparent attempt to keep others out. Our building project budgets dwarf our missions giving and our internal activities far outpace our outreach ministries. How did this happen, and more importantly, how do we fix it?

The answer begins with you and me. We must repent; we must change. If Christ has been removed from the church, then it is our responsibility to seek Him outside of those comfortable walls, to find Him in the eyes of the people He came to save. We must go to the alleys, to the suburbs and to the ghettos. We will find Him in the poor, the sick and the abandoned. Jesus is near, but we have become blind.

It is time that we who claim to know Jesus begin to live a life that looks like His. We must walk where He walked and touch those whom He touched. The time has come to shed our Western trappings and live a life marked by simplicity and grace. Our closets are packed with clothing we never wear while half the globe walks around in rags and without shoes. Our cupboards and refrigerators burst with food in quantities unfathomable to the three billion people in the world who somehow exist on only $2 per day. Jesus said to give all that we have, but we quarrel about the proper amount to tithe, and whether that amount is before or after taxes. Although we are the most blessed generation of people in history, are charity pales in comparison to our earnings.

While some will give of their money, they will withhold their time. Other will give their time, but hold on to their vices. Following Jesus is all or nothing. You can’t do it half-way; you’ll simply get left behind. Following Jesus requires an intense faith a passion to do the works we were both created and commanded to do. Now is the time for this generation to rise up and rebel against the religious traditions we have been taught. Almost everything you’ve learned is wrong because it suffers from years of man-made additions to what is at its heart a very simple mission. True followers of Jesus will reject the pharisaical teachings of the past and return to a life spent in relentless pursuit of the Savior.

Let us begin that journey; let us learn to strip away all that is not of Jesus and begin again to walk in His footsteps. Along the way we will learn what it means to truly identify with the poor and the sick. We will discover renewed passion for life and a compassion for others that is unquenchable. When it comes to Jesus, it is essential that we yearn for more and more; we must never be satisfied. Our longing for Him must leave us aching for more and more. He is our Creator, the One who is madly and passionately in love with us. He longs to be known by you. Will you seek Him? Come with me and let’s learn to pursue Him at any cost. Let us learn together what it means to be a true follower of Jesus.

Nothing Else Matters

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Today it’s time to take a breather. We have talked a lot about being active for the Kingdom and how salvation is a combination of faith and works. We mustn’t be passive observers on the road of life, but rather active participants in all that comes our way. With all of that said, none of it will matter if we are not doing it for the right purpose and without the proper heart attitude.

Everything we do must be for the reason of making the Kingdom of God a reality here on earth. Jesus prayed that God’s will would be done on earth as it is in Heaven. This is a clear indication that we are not to simply wait around for Heaven, but rather that we should be bringing Heaven to earth. We should be working to provide the paradise experience to all people, right here and right now. Jesus prayed that it would be so and therefore established our mission. Everything we do must now contribute to that mission. This is what it means to follow Jesus. We act because he acted, we love because He loved, and we serve because He served. Jesus modeled ways in which we could begin to make heaven a reality here on earth. There is no injustice in Heaven; there is no hunger, nor sorrow, nor tears. To bring Heaven to earth, therefore, we must work for justice and to eliminate hunger, sorrow and tears. Most importantly we must do all of this because it is what Jesus told us to do.

Our only motive must be Jesus and our only mission must be that which He gave to us. Being a good person for the sake of living in harmony with others simply won’t cut it. While it may look great on the surface, the root of this kind of service is selfishness. Serving others so that you can live in peace finds you at the core instead of Jesus. Rather, when we serve, we must do it because it’s what Jesus would do; it’s what He said to do and it pleases Him. Jesus must be the reason. Jesus must be the motive. In this way, we live honestly and purely before Him. Our hearts are aligned with Him and He will bless what we set out to do.

Being a follower of Jesus means nothing if we are not pleasing Him. We please Him by doing the things He did, and doing them for His pleasure and in His name. It’s not enough to feed the hungry. We need to be broken at the very sight of those in need. We must see them as beautiful creations of God and be compelled to serve them because we love as Christ loved. It’s all about the attitude of our hearts. If our hearts are not broken by the things that break the heart of Jesus then we are living a lie; we are hypocrites. We cannot fully love Jesus until we love as He loves. We must devote the whole of our life to growing into His love and then reflecting that same love to the world around us. As the hands and feet of God, we must be fully aligned with His mission in order to best carry it out. We can’t fake it; if we aren’t doing it for Jesus, we may as well not do it at all.

So what’s your motivation? Are you seeking to live in harmony for harmony’s sake? Are you caring for others out of a heart that breaks for them or out of a sense of civic duty? Are you mindful of what others might think as you engage in activities of service? Forget everything else except for Jesus and His mission. Remember why He came, how He lived and what He has created you to do. Live a pure life wholly devoted to Him, a life that consults Him first and Him only. You can’t be a true follower of Jesus and have motives of anything other than Him. He demands it all, not just a part. Check your motives; beg for more of His love and to have your heart broken by the things that break His heart. Love and serve in the name of Jesus. He is the only way; He is all we need.

Seeking the Kingdom First

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For those familiar with Scripture, you are more than likely aware of the command to “Seek first the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33). This is pretty clear and straightforward. If you are a list oriented person like me, you may be wondering what numbers two, three and four might be. We’re good with seeking the Kingdom first, but what are we to seek next? In truth there is no next. There are two reasons why this is a list of one, and why one is all that we need.

First, we are never able to check off the first (and only) item on the list. We never fully accomplish seeking the Kingdom of God first. Seeking the Kingdom of God is a moment by moment endeavor. We may successfully seek the Kingdom first in one moment, but in the next we are back to our own selfish pursuits. Since we are no longer seeking the Kingdom first, we must return to number one on our list. In fact the very moment we cross off “Seek God’s Kingdom” from our list, we immediately nullify its completion. At that moment we have become self-serving and are no longer seeking the Kingdom first. Seeking first the Kingdom of God is a lifelong activity. We must consciously choose to seek His Kingdom every moment we live. Since He never told us to stop seeking, and since He never rescinded that command, we must continue on with the last instruction we received. We must continue to seek Him. It can be a daunting challenge to constantly seek His kingdom first; daunting, but not impossible. God is with us at every moment. He is with you right now. We often forget that His Spirit is alive and at work within us. If you are a sincere follower of Christ, the Spirit of God is part of your life at all times. He gives us the ability to consult with Him at any moment, for as long as we need. Our job is simply to remind ourselves that He is with us; we must master the discipline of becoming intimately and consciously aware of His constant presence in our lives.

The second reason we have a list of one is that this one item encompasses all that we are to do in service to Jesus. Seeking His kingdom first means we will see Jesus in everyone. We will see Him as the hungry child orphaned by the plague of AIDS, and we will feed Him. We will see him in the hollow eyes of the crippled homeless man, and we will shelter him. We will see Him sick and in agony, and we will care for his needs. If we seek first God’s Kingdom, we will behave like citizens of that Kingdom. We will love God with all of our heart, all of our soul, and all of our minds. We will love our neighbors more than we love ourselves. We will seek to do the things that Jesus did and we will carry on the mission He left for us to do. If we seek first His kingdom, we will live lives that look like Jesus. We will know what it means to walk as Jesus walked, and to love as Jesus loved.

Seeking the Kingdom is not simply the first thing we are to do as followers of Christ; it is the only thing we are to do. If we will follow this single command, we will do all that Jesus told us to do. Begin recognizing that God is with you at all times. Seek Him out in every situation; get in the habit of engaging in non-stop conversation with our King. As we shift our focus, moment by moment, onto His Kingdom and His plans, we will find that burdens and sins begin to melt away. There is no room for sin in a life that is wholly devoted to God. There is no burden so heavy that it is not diminished in the presence of God. Seek first the Kingdom of God, and seek nothing else. In seeking Him first we will find His peace, His patience and His love. Seek Him first, and seek Him only; then you will be fully and truly whole.