Even If i Walk Alone

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

priorities

Be Prepared

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In 2 Timothy 4:2, Paul exhorted Timothy to always be prepared to preach the Word of God. Peter tells us we should always be prepared to give a defense of the reason we have hope in Jesus (1 Peter 3:14-15). And Jesus instructed His disciples to be prepared for the attacks of the world as they went out preaching the gospel (Matthew 10:16). As you survey the world today, if your eyes are open, you will see it is decaying at incredible speed.

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I’ve been asked if I believe we are living in the end times. I cannot presume to know such things. Jesus told us no man knows when He will return. What I will say is I struggle to imagine the lawlessness and depravity getting much worse. I think Christians face hard times ahead, and we must prepare now.

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Seek God First

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Wealth will fail you. It cannot save you. Only God is trustworthy and able to save. We can gain the whole world and still lose our soul (Mark 8:36). What good is that? Seek God and His Kingdom first and He will meet your needs (Matthew 6:31-33). What an amazing deal! If we seek God first, our lives automatically get better.

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Not because all our problems will melt away, not because we’ll suddenly find fame, fortune, and happiness. No, your life will be better because you will be living in the will of your Creator. You will live the life God designed you to live. This is the goal to which we should all be aspiring every day.

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Love is a Decision

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Jesus commands us to love others as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39). That’s even harder than it appears on the surface because loving ourselves is something almost everyone does automatically. We feed ourselves, bathe ourselves, and even work to provide a little money for ourselves. But when it comes to loving our neighbors, well, that love is a decision.

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We don’t do it automatically and it doesn’t come easy or cheap. It will cost us something. To love another means sacrificing your time, your desires, and your agenda. We abandon none of these with ease. Selfishness is something we can put on autopilot. Selflessness requires an active and repeated discipline of our will.

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This Generation

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I worry about this generation of believers in the West. We’ve been brought up with a gospel married with an Americanized version of Christianity that has little resemblance to what Christ taught during His time on earth. Jesus taught we would face persecution and have to endure all kinds of trouble (John 16:33; Mark 13:11-13). Many contemporary churches teach deliverance from trouble through Jesus. A number of popular ministries go even further teaching if you have enough faith, you will be healthy and wealthy.

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The Bible teaches those who are in Christ will be a peculiar people, aliens and strangers in their own lands (1 Peter 2:9; 1 Peter 2:11). Our churches have taught us how to set goals, dream big dreams, and succeed, just like people in the world. We’ve traded the cross of Jesus for a life of comfort and security. What will we do when the world is no longer safe or comfortable for those professing faith in Jesus Christ?

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Orienting Our Lives Around Jesus

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Not long ago, I wrote an article on orienting your entire life around Christ. I want to develop that idea further because I’m not there yet and feel Jesus isn’t through working on me in this area. There was a time when people would spend their entire days working their farms, fields, and flocks. Survival was synonymous with life. Leisure time was a luxury rarely found. And yet, when Sunday came around, almost everyone was in church.

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Prayers were said around the table and before bed at night. Scripture was read by the fire before turning in. The whole of life was oriented around work and God. It harkens back to the first week of creation, when God worked six days and rested on the seventh to enjoy the work of His hands (Genesis 2:1-3). It’s almost like He knew what He was doing and defining a pattern for the way His people should live. Imagine that.

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