Even If i Walk Alone

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

peace

Jesus Has Come

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We just completed a season of Advent. The word advent simply means “coming.” More specifically in Christian circles it means the coming of Christ. We celebrate Advent at Christmas time in memory of Christ coming to earth as a baby who would grow up to die for our sins. Now this season has passed, we look forward to a new season of advent.This is the second advent, the second coming of Jesus.

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With Christmas in our rear view mirror, we now turn our focus for the next year to building His Kingdom on earth in preparation for His return. This is the future advent. While we celebrate the Advent of His birth in memory of what He did, we celebrate the Advent of His coming again in honor and praise for what He has yet to do.

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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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Perfect Peace

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Isaiah 26:3 says “You will keep the mind that is dependent on You in perfect peace, for it is trusting in You.” Reflecting on this verse, A.W. Tozer wrote, “The only fear I have is to get out of the will of God. Outside of the will of God, there’s nothing I want, and in the will of God there’s nothing I fear.” As long as we are in the will of God, He has promised to keep us and to give us peace.

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What else could we possibly want from life? It feels as if that question should be rhetorical, but so many professing Christians seem to answer with things like happiness, safety, and success. These are all temporary affections promoted by an American Christianity, not by Biblical teaching.
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Time to Breathe

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Sometimes we’re our own worst enemies. We want to draw closer to God, to experience more of His love and character, but we rarely slow down enough to actually take in His glory. We spend our days jumping from one task to the next, and that busyness spills over into our spiritual lives. When we finally get around to praying, studying, and concentrating on God, our minds are so hurried we cruise right through what He is revealing to us.

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He gives us an epiphany for service and we quickly file it away so we can get to the next verse or the next name on our prayer list.  And we wonder why our spiritual life isn’t more vibrant!
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Countercultural

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In a recent sermon, Greg Boyd said, “You can’t live out the Kingdom and not be countercultural.” Living the way Jesus lived will make you stand out from the crowd. You’ll definitely look weird compared to the standards of your society. Of course, for those of us who have committed our lives to serve Christ, we don’t mind the long stares, awkward conversations, or sometimes outright hostility.

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We understand it comes with the territory and realize the mission of Jesus is far more important than any of that. Still, too many professing Christians want to build God’s kingdom, but they want to build their own along the way.
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