Even If i Walk Alone

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

Revelation

Casual Christian

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There is an old song by the band “Degarmo and Key” called “Casual Christian”. The beginning of the song says, “I don’t want to be a casual Christian / I don’t want to lead a lukewarm life / ‘Cause I want to light up the night / With an everlasting light / I don’t want to lead a casual Christian life.” Though the song is over twenty-five years old, the lyrics still regularly play in my mind. Put simply, this is the call of my life, and I believe it is the call for every disciple of Jesus.

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Casual Christianity is mediocre Christianity. It is lukewarm Christianity. It is nothing more than religious busyness, and it very literally makes God sick (Revelation 3:16).

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Left Over’s

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Claire Cain Miller recently wrote an article for the New York Times titled, “Stressed, Tired, Rushed: A Portrait of the Modern Family”. While not pointed out in the article, it reminded me how our relationship with God often falls victim to our stressed out, fatigued, and busy lifestyle. The life of a Christian in modern society looks ridiculously similar to that of a non-Christian.

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We play the game of pursuing the American dream and keeping up with the Jones’s. None of which has anything to do with following Jesus, of course. But more often than not, we live our busy lives and give Jesus our left over’s. We give God whatever time and money is left over after pursuing our selfish desires.

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An Inconvenient Life

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If you want to be a follower of Jesus, you must accept you will live an inconvenient life. It isn’t you might have to live an inconvenient life, it is a certainty you will. We all have particular rhythms and structures built into our lives and we don’t want to see them disturbed. I have observed many believers who live lives of little consequence because they never move outside their comfort zone. Comfort is the rallying cry of this generation of believers and it should make every disciple of Jesus sick to their core.

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This is the era of the lukewarm, the ones Jesus proclaimed he would vomit out of His mouth (Revelation 3:16). Following Jesus is never convenient. If you want to stay in your comfortable life with its familiar trappings and surroundings, I submit Jesus is not for you.
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Stare at God

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What if we stared at God every moment of our day? The Bible tells us we should fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2), but how often do we make a conscious effort to do that?  More importantly, what does that look like in real life? I’ve recently been trying to work this out for myself. The key is to first get a proper mental image of God. Check out Revelation 4:8-11, where it describes angels who do nothing but praise God, all day. They are so consumed with His beauty that they can do nothing else. God is the perfection of all that is good. He is perfect and unconditional love, and is constantly in pursuit of you, reaching out to you.  Look at Isaiah 6:3-5, where the prophet feels ruined just from looking at the beauty of God. Keep that picture of God at the forefront of your mind.

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Fearing God

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Satan loves to fill our minds with doubts and fears. He reminds us of our perceived shortcomings and failures. If we listen long enough, these thoughts become debilitating and prevent us from carrying out the mission of Christ. Too often we fail to recognize Satan as the source of our destructive thought patterns. If we did, we wouldn’t lend them the credence that we do. The Bible tells us that Satan is “the accuser” (Revelation 12:10). Any time you have thoughts of not being good enough or you doubt your ability to accomplish something, those thoughts are from the devil himself. In the same way, when you are afraid, those feelings too are from Satan. God is one hundred percent love, and there is no fear in love (1 John 4:18).

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