Even If i Walk Alone

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

mission

Reverse the Curse

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When did we start believing the idea was to live in as much comfort and enjoying as much pleasure as we possibly can until our time comes to die? It’s nowhere in the Bible. In fact in the very first pages we see that sort of Utopian existence destroyed and our planet cursed with the sin which had been invited in. In the beginning, it was all about God. Nothing has changed.

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It is still all about God. Except somehow, somewhere along the way, we began to think it’s all about us. We were created to worship God, but what most of us ever worship is ourselves. We put it in much more congenial terms like, “God wants me to be happy”, or the pathetic, “I deserve this”. It’s as if we think we can reverse the curse and live in our own self-created paradise.

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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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Single-Minded

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I was recently reading Calvin Miller’s excellent “The Disciplined Life” for a second time and came across a statement that exploded off the page. The author wrote, “To hold anything in our hearts that is contrary to the single-minded call is to split our attention between Jesus and whatever else is calling for first place in our allegiance.”
This is the heart of discipleship.

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There is no place in the life of a follower of Christ for anything other than Jesus. A divided kingdom will certainly fall (Mark 3:24), and a divided heart will never find lasting peace or victory. We either solely belong to Jesus or we do not belong to Him at all.
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Ambassadors of Christ

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We are the hands and feet of Jesus. That means wherever we go and whatever we do, we are representing Jesus. We are ambassadors of Christ. For many, our lives are the only glimpse they will ever get of Jesus. It is our responsibility, our duty, to represent well the Kingdom of God. The words of Christ must be our words. Our hearts must beat in rhythm with the heart of Jesus.

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As ambassadors of Christ, we are the image bearers of God. It is a heavy responsibility and not all will be up to the task. Still others will simply refuse. But if you would follow Jesus, if your greatest desire is to be His disciple, then you must carry out the mission.
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An Inconvenient Life

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If you want to be a follower of Jesus, you must accept you will live an inconvenient life. It isn’t you might have to live an inconvenient life, it is a certainty you will. We all have particular rhythms and structures built into our lives and we don’t want to see them disturbed. I have observed many believers who live lives of little consequence because they never move outside their comfort zone. Comfort is the rallying cry of this generation of believers and it should make every disciple of Jesus sick to their core.

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This is the era of the lukewarm, the ones Jesus proclaimed he would vomit out of His mouth (Revelation 3:16). Following Jesus is never convenient. If you want to stay in your comfortable life with its familiar trappings and surroundings, I submit Jesus is not for you.
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