Even If i Walk Alone

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

Revolting Beauty

The Gift of Salvation

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You don’t have to hang out among Christians for very long before hearing about the “free” gift of salvation in Jesus. It is amazing how we owe Jesus nothing in return for His saving us for all eternity and sending His Spirit to live inside us. We marvel at this gift, and with good reason. But, in truth, the gift isn’t free. No gift is. Every gift will cost the giver something. The gift of salvation is no different.

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Around Easter, we take the time to ponder what it cost Jesus to save us. But we rarely think about or discuss what this “free” gift of salvation cost God the Father. Can you imagine volunteering your child to die on behalf of a multitude of ungrateful people, most of whom will refuse the gift, anyway? What the gift of Jesus cost God is beyond human comprehension. Perhaps it’s why we choose not to think or talk about it.

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Controlling My Reactions

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I struggle with controlling my reactions. When someone says something to offend me, or does something unscrupulous, or even holds an opinion diametrically opposed to my own, my reaction to those people can get me in trouble in a hurry. I want to be loving and given time to formulate my words, I do my best to say things that build people up, not tear them down (Ephesians 4:29).

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But at that moment of a split-second reaction? I don’t fare so well. I know I’m not alone in this as it’s easy to observe the way others react as well. Still, I know controlling my reactions is important to living a life that looks like Jesus.

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Is Your Life Worthy of Jesus?

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Oh, that we might fall in love with Jesus. We need to see Him as He is, the amazing, loving, and beautiful beyond compare Son of the living God. How many days have we let pass by without giving proper thought to His majesty? Days come and go, and we busy ourselves with our lives in this world while giving little to any thought of our life in the world to come.

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We focus on ourselves and our problems and relegate Jesus to the shadows and creases of our consciousness. His beauty should overwhelm us, but we find new ways every day to ignore it. We have allowed Satan to blind and distract us from the glory of God.

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The Joy Set Before Him

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Christine Caine wrote, “For the joy set before him [Jesus] endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2) For the joy set before Him . . . that’s us! When Jesus was on the cross, the joy that kept Him going—the passion that fueled His endurance of pain—was knowing the freedom His death, burial, and resurrection would produce in our lives.” That’s so beautiful.

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What kind of love is this God has for us? He has always been thinking of you. When He came to earth as a baby, He was thinking of you. When Jesus walked the dusty streets during His ministry, He was thinking of you. And when He hung on that gruesome and horrifying cross, Jesus was thinking about you.

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The Likeness of Christ

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In his groundbreaking book “Cross Vision”, Greg Boyd writes, “The way you imagine God largely determines the quality of your relationship with God. The intensity of your love for God will never outrun the beauty of the God you envision… the depth of your transformation into the likeness of Christ will never outrun the Christlikeness of your mental representation of God.” Jesus is the perfect representation of the Father.

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He is at once both the flawless depiction of God and is God Himself. If we have seen Christ, we have seen the Father (John 14:9). Our eyes have looked on the face of God. If we want to know what God is like, we need only look at the person of Jesus. He alone perfectly reflected and manifested the Father. If we have an imperfect mental image of Christ, we will have an imperfect picture of God.

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