Even If i Walk Alone

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

Revelation

Mediocrity

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mediocre,settling for average,being average,less than your best,giving up,potential

I’ve been struck lately with a preoccupation regarding the concept of mediocrity. It continues to come into my mind as I see evidence of it all around me and within my own life. Jesus gave His opinion of mediocrity when He said that He detested lukewarm faith. Using strong language, He said that mediocre Christians made Him vomit (Revelation 3:16). We’ve bought into a teaching that says as long as we say a certain prayer that Christ will welcome us into His Kingdom with open arms. But Jesus makes it plain that unless we have a “hot” faith, He will spit us out. This is not a picture of the open arms we have been taught to expect.

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Take Action

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proactive,putting God first,Jesus first,2013,goals,goal setting,discipleship

Today is the last day of 2012. The beginning of a new year is always an exciting time for me, as it presents a clean slate and a fresh set of opportunities. I’m a goals fanatic and have found it useful to have a theme to guide my planning for each year. Last year’s theme was, “Consume Less, Contribute More.” This year I have selected, “Take Action”. As a follower of Christ, nothing could be more important. As James said, we must be doers of the word, not merely hearers (James 1:22-25). If we are going to grow in our faith, we must act on the things Jesus told us to do.

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Preoccupied

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first love,devotion,discipleship,Jesus first,putting God first,mission,purpose,commitment,walk on water,faith,putting first things first

I believe most people are sincere in their commitment to follow Christ. We really do want to make Him the Lord of our lives and to put Him before everything else. Satan knows this as well which is why he is constantly looking for ways to discourage and distract us. It’s not the catastrophic failures that tend to doom us; it’s the small, incremental distractions that knock us off course to the point that we one day wonder how we got where we are. So often a bad day finds us looking to anything other than God to salve our frustrations. We seek comfort in mindless entertainment or destructive addictions in hopes of numbing a life that has gone off plan and seemingly has no solution in sight. We neglect our first love (1 John 4:19; Revelation 2:4), and Satan is delighted. No matter what’s going on in your life, you must never let your affliction cloud your affection.

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Are You a Disciple?

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mediocrity,jesus first,sold out,disciple,follower of christ,discipleship

In the life of every true follower of Christ, there comes a moment when lip-service faith is no longer good enough. At some point we recognize that the status quo isn’t getting it done. The things we have always been taught begin to ring hollow. We recognize how shallow we have been swimming in the ocean of love that is the spirit of God. This is when we must choose to dive deeper and discover what it means to live life as an authentic follower of Jesus or to continue living in dangerous mediocrity (Revelation 3:16). This is the moment of truth, and our eternity hangs on the decision we make.

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Defining the Relationship

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Clapperboard

In his excellent book, “Not a Fan”, Kyle Idleman makes the point that if we are to be true followers of Christ then it requires us to define the relationship. In other words, what does it mean to be a follower? It is more than simply believing in Christ and it is more than living a good life. Following Jesus means that we must be willing to give up everything we own and all that we are. Our hopes, dreams, aspirations and possessions belong to God, and if we would follow Him, we must not try to keep any of those things for ourselves.

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