Even If i Walk Alone

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

priorities

Exclusive Devotion

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David Platt once wrote, “Plainly put, a relationship with Jesus requires total, superior, and exclusive devotion.” Is this how you would describe your relationship with Jesus? When I hear or read statements like this, I get excited. This is exactly the life I want to live. I want to be so committed to Jesus others cannot help but know. Such radical obedience and devotion stir something deep inside me.

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I know it is for this I was created. Knowing why you are here on this earth will motivate you like nothing else. But alas, I cannot claim my relationship with Jesus is characterized by total, superior, and exclusive devotion to Him. Despite knowing this is the deepest yearning of my heart, I fall short again and again.

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Knowing Him

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Nothing drives me more than learning to know Jesus more. Nothing compares to knowing Him. It’s my obsession. Indeed, I believe it should be the obsession of all who call Him Lord. As I’ve stated many times here, being a follower of Christ goes far beyond saying a prayer or raising your hand in response to a stirring message. Being a follower of Christ means living your life in a reckless pursuit to know Him more. Nothing matters more than Jesus.

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Becoming a Christian is a choice we make in a single moment. Knowing Jesus is a way of life we pursue for the remainder of our days. Nothing compares to the beauty of Jesus. Nothing compares to His peace. True joy and significance are found only by living for the sole purpose of knowing Him more.

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Absolute Surrender

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Surrender is a word which causes mixed emotions for me. My independent and ferocious side wants to scream out, “Never! I won’t quit, won’t stop, won’t ever give in.” Surrender implies I’ve failed in some way. I didn’t complete the task or achieve the mission. I’m not one who likes to be beaten. On the flip side, surrender is the most beautiful word I know and is the aspiration of my life.

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I know I cannot win until I surrender. The mission will fail unless and until I surrender. While my prideful self resists surrender, my love for Christ demands it of me. So, in a paradoxical sense, I must refuse to surrender to ever stop surrendering to Jesus!

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Time with Jesus

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In the familiar story of Mary and Martha, Martha is busy preparing a meal for Jesus and His disciples, while her sister Mary sits at the feet of Jesus and offers no help to her sister (Luke 10:38-42). Martha is upset by this and complains to Jesus. The reply of Christ speaks volumes about how we should live our lives. He tells Martha Mary has chosen what is more important (Luke 10:41-42).

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The story ends without telling us how Martha responded, but I am more interested in the choice of Mary. What was it about Jesus she found so fascinating, so compelling, she defied cultural customs and ignored family responsibilities to spend time at the feet of Jesus?

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Simplicity

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I’ve had an old Margaret Becker song (“Find Me”) stuck in my head for several days.  The lyric for the part playing on an endless loop in my head says, “I’m gonna give away my stereo / Give away my TV / I’m going back to essentials, a chair and a lamp / And the Book that You wrote to me”. What have we given up in our crazy distracting, device-happy, and electronics fueled world?

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If you live in the West like me, I’m going to guess you have no shortage of “stuff”. You have no shortage of distractions. But what have we forgotten, and what have we lost? What if we took it back to essentials, just a chair, a lamp, and a Bible. Wouldn’t that be more than enough? Wouldn’t we actually be more fulfilled and happier?

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