Even If i Walk Alone

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

priorities

Dine In USA

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The very good folks over at “Here’s Life Inner City” ministry are sponsoring the “Dine In Campaign” this holiday season. The premise is very simple. Pick a day (or days) that you would normally eat out, and stay home instead. Instead of spending money at the restaurant, donate what you would have spent to buy a Thanksgiving meal for a poor family in America. For $36.71 you can feed a family of six this holiday season. Instead of facing another year around an empty table, your sacrifice will provide a wonderful meal for an entire family. “Here’s Life Inner City” is using the donations to pack up meals in “Love Boxes” to send to their ministry partners across the nation to feed those in need this season. I highly encourage you to consider taking part in this campaign. This is a very tangible way to be the hands and feet of Jesus and to follow His command to feed the hungry and care for the poor. Click here to donate or learn more.

We can all sacrifice a meal out so that someone else might experience a dinner they would otherwise never be able to afford. Imagine the smiles and full stomachs provided from your simple act of service. Instead of spending on ourselves, let’s give of what we’ve been blessed with to care for another. I am excited to participate in the campaign and to share it with you as well. We talk so much here about sacrifice and caring for the needs of others, and often people ask what they can do and wonder how they can demonstrate Christ’s love to the poor. The “Dine In Campaign” is a great start, a wonderful opportunity to walk as Jesus walked and to touch those he touched.

The poor always held a special place in the heart of Jesus, so we also must be moved with compassion toward those less fortunate than we are. It is so easy to get caught up in the preparation and festivities of the season. Don’t become so busy that you lose focus of the mission. Satan delights in using good things to steer us off course. If he can distract us with the business of the holidays he will have succeeded in turning our eyes from the poor and those in need, both here at home and around the world. For literally billions of people, this time of year holds no sense of celebration. They are too busy simply trying to survive. They are hard at work scrounging for food and dealing with illnesses caused from drinking filthy and contaminated water. We must be careful not to pause in our efforts in continuing the mission of Jesus during this time of the year.

As you are reminded of the things for which you are thankful, remember those who lack hope and are mired in poverty. If we have something for which to be thankful, then we have something which can be shared. Not long after Thanksgiving we will celebrate the greatest gift in the history of mankind, the gift of Jesus. We must see that the gift of God’s Son continues to be spread to those who have not yet heard. We must not relax our efforts to go into the entire world, telling them about Jesus, and serving them in their need. This is the mission Christ entrusted to those who would follow Him and we must not relax our fervor or determination simply because of the holiday season. Indeed, the holidays should inspire us to do more, not less.

This year, consider spending your money and effort on those who truly are in need. Give to the poor, spend time with the outcast and touch the untouchable. This season is a time of great distress and depression for so many as they are reminded of what they lack. May we not be so absorbed with what we have that we neglect the poorest of the poor. Let us endeavor to serve them in humility, love and friendship. Jesus demands nothing less of us. Pray to ache as He does over the plight of the poor. Thank Him for your blessings and then share all you can with someone in need. Make this holiday season a season of service. The smiles you encounter will be those of Jesus Himself as you carry out His work on earth.

Making the Big Decisions

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The biggest decision you will ever make in your life is whether or not to become a follower of Jesus. Beyond this, everything else trivially pales. Still, we will face many difficult choices throughout our lives. How can we be certain we are making the correct decision? Asking whether or not we are making the right choice is the wrong question; we should be most concerned with whether or not we are making a wise choice. The Bible tells us to ask for wisdom, and this is what is genuinely needed most when determining what we should do. We should seek the counsel of others, trusted individuals who have walked the path before us and have experience in the matters we are dealing with. Don’t ask broke people for financial advice or a single person for marital advice. You need to inquire of people who have been where we are and successfully navigated the storms in order to benefit from their experiences. Pray diligently for wisdom and peace concerning your decision. You may not ever hear a definite, unmistakable answer in your heart; but then again you just might! The Holy Spirit works within each believer to prompt us in the way we should go. We simply need to learn to be still and receptive to His leading. Ask others to pray on your behalf as well. Joining together in prayer around a common issue is powerful and one of the great and thrilling mysteries of God.

God created us as agents of free will. He has bestowed on us the honor and privilege of making our own choices. While there are certainly times in life where it would be great to just throw up our hands and have God make the decision for us, we recognize that life would be far less exciting if everything were dictated by someone else. Even though we are free to choose which direction we will go, we must realize that the path that leads to Christ is always the one we should take. Every decision has some spiritual element to it. We need to ask ourselves which choice will lead us closer to God, reflect His glory, or serve someone else in love. Learning to consider our choices in life through this spiritual lens will assist in making decisions far easier. If the choice in question involves money, which outcome will result in you being a better steward of God’s resources? If the decision is about a commitment of time, which choice will allow you to best utilize the number of hours to be spent doing kingdom work? When deciding between two potential job offers, determine which position will allow you to make a bigger impact in the lives of others for Christ. Again, every decision has a spiritual element. It is very important that we take the time to discover the implications of each choice in regards to our commitment to follow Jesus. The wise decision will always be the one that best positions us to serve others with the love of Christ. It may require temporary sacrifice, but it will reap eternal rewards.

We tend to get caught up in how our decisions affect us here and now in this present world. Instead, we should learn to make choices based on their effect in God’s eternal kingdom. This will remove much of the stress and trepidation we feel when faced with monumental decisions. It should never be about how choices will affect our own lives, but rather how they will affect the lives of those we are called to serve. Pray for wisdom and seek the counsel of others. Look at each choice through a spiritual lens; what makes the most sense for promoting the kingdom of God and His glory? Once we take the focus off of ourselves, the big decisions in life seem far smaller and we are able to move forward, confident that we are following in the footsteps of Jesus.

Balancing Your Wants and Needs

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We live in a culture that is obsessed by what we “need” and by things we “deserve”. On top of this, we add the additional items which we simply want to have or achieve. At the end of the day, we are consumed by an avalanche of selfish desires that have no positive effect on the world around us and wind up serving only ourselves. This is not the model of Biblical Christianity. It is instead a far cry from the behavior of the early followers of Jesus that we find recorded in Acts 2:44-47. In that passage we see that Christians divided whatever they had and shared with anyone who was in need. There was no thought of “getting ahead in life” or hoarding resources for themselves. They weren’t concerned with personal wealth-building, but rather with building up someone else. Selfishness was not on their radar because the focal point of their lives was Jesus Christ.

Fast-forward two thousand years or so to our modern society. The things we “need” have taken on an entirely different meaning; where once our needs were food and shelter, they have now become extravagance and overabundance. If we don’t have a couple of week’s worth of food in our house, we “need” to go shopping. If we don’t live in a nice neighborhood, we “need” to move. If our televisions cannot display the latest HD quality picture, we “need” a new TV. I submit that the vast majority of our “needs” are more accurately simply a wish list of our “wants”. What we need is the love and grace of Jesus. That is a true need with the added benefit of being a glorious want and desire. We love Him because He first loved us and gave His life for us, so we want to live our life for Him. It’s beautiful the way God has caused us to want most that which we need most. He has put a deep longing within each of us to come to Him. He is all we need.

Another area we get wrong concerns the things we believe we “deserve”. We tell ourselves that we deserve to be happy, deserve to be secure and deserve nice things because we work hard to get them. This too flies in the face of Biblical teaching. What the Bible tells us we deserve is eternal damnation and separation from God in Hell. That is what we deserve. Anything we get that is more than this is simply because of the grace of God and we should fall on our faces and plead for His mercy. It is common to hear people say that they only want what they deserve; they can have it by simply continuing to live their lives for themselves and rejecting Christ. This is a sure-fire method to guarantee yourself to get what you deserve. Live for yourself and be eternally separated from God. Keep the money you earn to yourself and ignore the poor, and you will be stripped of everything you possess. It’s easy to get what you deserve; simply continue to live your life for yourself and leave God out of the equation. I will personally guarantee you, based on the word of God, that you will indeed receive the full measure of everything you deserve.

We need to rethink our wants, needs and our concept of what we believe we deserve. Our “wants” should be those things that will bring us closer to Jesus. Our “needs” should be just enough to survive in this world. What we deserve is clear, so we must repent, accept the grace of God as our covering, and praise Him from saving us from the life we truly merit. Don’t live your life on the terms dictated to you by our Western culture. Live your life in gratitude and service to Jesus, reflecting His love and grace to everyone you meet.

Cleaning Out the Garage

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Having recently cleaned out my garage, I have to say that few things leave you with such a feeling of satisfaction. It’s a place you generally see at least twice a day, so having everything neat and organized has a calming effect on personalities like mine. As I sat down to write this entry, I started thinking about the many similarities between cleaning out my garage and cleaning out my heart for Christ. Before rolling your eyes and flipping to the next blog on your list, go with me on this for a few minutes.

I was amazed at how much dust and dirt can build up on the floor of my garage. I have no idea from where it all comes (though admittedly it wasn’t something I took a lot of time to ponder!). I think life can be like that. We confess our sins to Christ and set about living our lives for Him. Over time, small bits of sin creep into our life. We get careless or lazy, and sin finds the cracks to seep through. Over time, this little bit of sin builds up until it has formed a thick coating on our hearts. We may not even recognize how dirty we’ve become at our core, but we know that our lives as a whole no longer look like they should. Without realizing how, we’ve become disorganized and sloppy. We need to take a broom to our hearts and start sweeping away the accumulated sin. Take the time to reflect and examine your heart. Confess the sin you find; come clean to Jesus and He will purify your heart and make you shine for Him once again.

Another thing that is necessary to cleaning out a garage is to throw out all of the things for which you no longer have a use. We all have habits that have been with us longer than we can even remember. If the practice is doing nothing to bring us closer to Christ, we need to throw it out. We may think we need it, but as soon as we cast it aside, we recognize how much lighter and cleaner things look. We no longer are burdened with storing unnecessary baggage. The less clutter we have in our hearts, the more room we have for Christ. We can’t have a heart devoted to Jesus if it is full of other desires, thoughts and habits. We need to take time to throw out any negative thoughts, hurtful opinions, anger, resentment and any other sinful tendencies. Having cleared out all that space, God can permeate every nook and cranny of our hearts.

When was the last time you took the time to give a good old-fashioned spring cleaning to your heart? We need to regularly take the time to pray and examine exactly what’s going on inside. It’s far too easy to allow the smallest of sins to creep in undetected, and before we know it, we are firmly off course. We must be diligent to sweep away any sludge that begins to permeate our soul. We have been cleansed by Jesus, and it is both our honor and duty to keep things immaculate within. Take stock of your habits and attitudes; is the life you are living a clear and brilliant reflection of Christ? Take the appropriate action to correct any wrong thought processes and behaviors. Why not start today? Clear the clutter and the noise from your heart, everything that has taken up residence within you that does not clearly reflect the image of Christ. Clean it up, throw it away and show the world the glory of God; shine clean and bright for Him.

Paling By Comparison

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We crowd our lives with so many good things that it becomes easy to miss that all the good things in the world are worth nothing in comparison to Jesus. In our efforts to live a Godly life, we become consumed with the busyness of our culture while wrapping it in a pleasant “Christian” covering. We head up committees at church, volunteer whenever possible, pray and read the Bible. If we are financially able, we send our children to private Christian schools, thereby securing a future for them where they too can be obsessed with the busyness of acting out their religion. In the Western culture, we have so many resources available to us and so many opportunities to serve that the noise of our efforts often drowns out the very mission for which we purport to be engaging. I encourage you to look again at the life of Christ; He was not a man dominated by busyness. He walked from place to place, often took time to get alone to simply pray and think, and always had time for those in need. Though it may have been short, His was not a rushed life. By all appearances, it does not seem that Jesus tried to fill every available moment of His time in the name of religion. Instead He chose the better way of simply obeying His Father and carrying out His mission on earth.

Satan is a master of taking good things and twisting them into something that actually pushes us away from God. Volunteering our time for worthwhile activities should always be a good thing, yet if we are neglecting time alone with God or if our volunteer time is not done with the focus on the love of Jesus, then we have allowed Satan to twist our generosity into something that pleases him. Whenever we are not actively involved in true Kingdom service, Satan is pleased; he is happy to let us coast along in this direction because we are doing him no harm. The longer we drift in this manner, the more difficult it is to see the problem with it, and the harder it becomes to turn around. This is why it is so important to constantly monitor our walk. Are we doing something that looks like Jesus in this moment? Now how about this moment? Every second of every day we are constantly making choices to either follow Him or to turn another way. As long as we are focused on the things Jesus did rather than on what we think we should be doing, we will be fine. The moments we glance to the side are the moments for which Satan waits. He is constantly trying to catch our eye with the shiny objects of this world (a new car, a bigger church building, a new ministry, etc.). All things can be used for the glory of God or for the glory of ourselves. We must be diligent when considering our choices.

There is nothing, absolutely nothing, in this world that can even remotely compare to the love of Jesus Christ. Why do we so often accept the petty treasures of this life in lieu of the eternal and matchless abundance of God? How long will we continue in this self deception and delusion? Jesus gave His life for us, even though we are an evil and unrepentant people. He loved us with such grace that He continues to see us as what He created us to be rather than what we have allowed ourselves to become. All He asks in return is our devotion to Him. We owe Him that and more. He alone can save us from ourselves and from the very forces of evil. God is our treasure, Heaven is our reward, and Christ is our salvation. We must once and for all cast aside everything to which we hold dear and instead cling only to the matchless glory of Jesus Christ. Everything else pales in comparison to the beauty and the love of the Holy Son of God. Don’t settle for the shiny trinkets of this world. Instead, let us devote ourselves to reach for the hands of the eternal King, the lover and healer of our souls.