Even If i Walk Alone

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

mission

The Death of Freewill

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Freewill is central to my theology and in my mind is the linchpin to answering difficult questions about sin, disease, and evil in the world. After Jesus, I think freewill is probably the greatest gift God bestowed on His creation. After all, freewill is what enables us to love. It enables us to choose. Most importantly, it enables us to accept Christ as our Lord and Savior.

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But here’s the irony for all disciples of Jesus: to accept Christ means the death of freewill in our lives. When we surrender ourselves to Christ, we surrender everything, including our freewill. Nothing is excluded. The very thing permitting us to accept Christ is what we must give up in exchange for His Lordship in our lives.

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Disciple or Christian?

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I think one of the greatest problems with Christianity today is there are too many Christians and not enough disciples of Jesus. Lip service Christianity does a great disservice to the name of Jesus in our world. What we need are more people willing to forsake everything in order to follow Jesus no matter the cost and with no thought of themselves. Instead, we are inflicted with generations of professing Christians who want nothing to do with a costly faith.

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They are willing to identify with Christ only to the point of suffering or persecution. Vast numbers in our churches today profess Jesus on Sunday morning only to leave Him behind on the way out the door. Where is the righteous indignation, the fiery zeal, and the unqualified devotion of the early church?
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Independence Day

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It’s Independence Day in America. Of course, for followers of Christ, the real Independence Day was the day they committed their lives wholly to Jesus. Real freedom, real independence, is found only in Jesus. Only He can set you free.

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No Nation, government, or authority can make you truly free. True freedom is found when you are no longer a slave to anything or anyone other than Jesus. Until your life is fully given over to Him, you will always be beholden to something or someone.
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Sin is Not Okay

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I’m seeing a disturbing trend in Christendom…  Somehow sin is becoming “okay”. I’m not picking on any individual sin because it’s all equal in the eyes of God. Jesus demonstrated this when He said anyone who has lusted has committed adultery in their heart and anyone who has harbored anger has committed murder in his heart. I don’t think I’d be going too far out on a limb to then conclude, if not for the merciful covering of the blood of Christ, we would all be adulterers and murderers in the eyes of God.

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I say this to make it known up front I am the worst of sinners. What’s worse than an adulterer and murderer? So I am throwing no stones at any other sin or sinner. My only premise is it should never be acceptable or even possible for a Christian to find sin acceptable. Sin is not okay.
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Simple

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It occurs to me Jesus lived such a simple life because He knew by limiting distractions, He would maximize His focus on His Father. I think we often overlook the simple teachings of Christ because we are always looking for something deeper. Like everything else in His life, Jesus kept it simple. He didn’t complicate things. He confounded the wise so the simple could plainly understand what He was saying.

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The so-called learned and wise people (much like us) missed it because they were convinced it couldn’t be that easy. Certainly issues as large as salvation and eternal life could not be so simple. We continue to make this mistake today and suffer the same consequences of those in Jesus’ day.
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