Even If i Walk Alone

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

priorities

Jesus Every Day

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On an intellectual level, I know focusing on Jesus leads to great joy. I don’t mean transitory happiness. I mean a deep and consuming joy. It is the state in which God means us to live (Galatians 5:22-23; John 15:11; Romans 15:13;). Joy was a frequent topic of Paul in his various epistles to the churches. He knew a life focused on Christ would be a life well-lived, a life worthy of Christ.

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Conversely, a life lived in search of enjoyment, satisfaction, and accomplishment robs us of the very joy God intends for us to have. So, if we know this on an intellectual level, why is it so difficult to practice? “Jesus every day” should be our mantra. Nothing we do matters except what we do for Him.

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Black and White

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God’s Word is not ambiguous. Humans add ambiguity when they don’t like what it says, so they try to twist it to mean what they want it to say. Reading the Bible should make you feel a little uncomfortable. It’s called the conviction of sin. When reading God’s Word, we instinctively know what is wrong in our life. If we keep reading, we will see God has the solution for everything wrong inside us — His Son Jesus.

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But following Jesus isn’t easy in this world. It’s not because He imposes a lot of rules and requirements on us, but because we want to hold on to what the world offers. We want to fit in, to belong. The Word of God is clear on this. You will either serve God or you will serve the things of this world (Matthew 6:24). It’s black and white, with no gray around the edges.

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Time is Fleeting

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In recent days, I’ve again been struck by how fleeting time is and how incumbent upon us it is to make the most of it. I’ve written previously on this topic (see “Time Keeps on Slipping”, “Time is Running Out”, and “Time is Short”) but am compelled to do so again because when I look at my life and the lives of other believers around me, I am convinced we still don’t get it. We are here for only a little while. In consideration of eternity, our lives don’t even register as a blip on the radar.

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James tells us our life is like smoke, appearing for a moment and then quickly vanishing (James 4:14) Most of us, especially when we are younger, think little of death and feel somewhat invincible. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our outlook on time matters when we are endeavoring to live as disciples of Jesus.

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Forsaking All

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Forsaking all means you give up your life. We must crucify our old desires. Put them to death. That means everything, not just a few things we won’t miss. Forsaking all means taking all of our most cherished dreams, possessions, and ideals, and throwing them away. You have to be okay with never revisiting any of those things.

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God may redeem some of them and return them to you so He can show you how to use them for His purposes. But there’s no guarantee that will happen. Forsaking all means you don’t expect to recover anything you are releasing. You’re done with them.

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Holy Living

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Holy living isn’t just a nice idea. It is something God commands us to do. Most of us assume holy living isn’t truly possible. Sure, Jesus did it, but He is the Son of God. We’re fallen and fallible human beings. How can we live up to such a standard? Peter gives us a roadmap for holy living in 1 Peter 1:13-16.

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It all starts in our minds. If we get our thinking right, we’ll find it far easier to live holy lives. You can’t be holy when your mind is obsessed with the things of this world. There is nothing holy on earth, so if we are always thinking of unholy things, how will we ever lead holy lives?

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