Even If i Walk Alone

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

Romans

One Life

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Don’t waste the one life God has given you to bring glory to His holy name (1 Corinthians 10:31). Life is brief. It is not something that you can grasp, but vanishes like a mist (James 4:14). Like grass that withers after a short time or a flower that wilts soon after reaching the height of its beauty, so is your one life (1 Peter 1:24). It is here today and gone tomorrow.

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In his first epistle to the churches, Peter goes to great lengths to instruct us how we should live our lives in a manner pleasing to God and worthy of His glorious name. We have only one life and will do well to heed the wisdom in this letter.

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Victory Through Persecution

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As we prepare for certain persecution in the not-so-distant future, we must learn all we can about what the scriptures have to say about this. One such passage is Romans 5:3-4, where Paul outlines the progression we go through to achieve victory through persecution: “And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.”

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I exhort you to commit the passage to memory for its encouragement. As we anticipate a day when owning a Bible may be illegal, we should all be memorizing as much scripture as possible. Do not be lazy or naïve in thinking that will never be a reality where you live. God’s Word tells us the days will only grow darker (2 Timothy 3:1-5), so we must prepare before it is too late.

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Rise Above the Hatred

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The media and our daily experience inform us hatred is on the rise and becoming the prevalent emotion in society today. Never in my lifetime has there been such division across every line: political, cultural, racial, sexual, you name it. The informed and uninformed alike dig into the trenches of their viewpoints and refuse to accept or even listen to alternative viewpoints and ideas.

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Instead of polite discourse, every conversation today seems to devolve into shouting and interruption. Whoever shouts the loudest and longest is the victor. As Christ-followers, we are called to rise above the hatred and not respond in kind (Romans 12:17-21). If we act like and look like the world, the world will never see Jesus in our lives (John 13:34-35).

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Long-Distance Eyes

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Are you feeling unsteady these days? It’s easy to feel disillusioned by everything you thought you knew when it smacks up against reality. There is so much discontent, fear, hatred, and uncertainty in our world that it takes everything we’ve got to not allow it to swallow us whole. It can be especially disconcerting for those of us who profess to trust Christ to provide everything we need, yet still have to live in a world that is coming apart at the seams.

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How can we hold fast to our faith when evil seems to win victory after victory? It’s easy to lose hope when our focus is on the here and now. Instead of eyes of immediacy, we need long-distance eyes to look beyond our current circumstances and into the eternal life that waits for us.

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How Many Times?

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How many times have you determined to live for Christ like never before? How many times have you promised Him this time you were surrendering for real? If you’re like me, over your lifetime, it’s more times than you can count. As I’ve written before, the ugly truth is we’re as close to God as we want to be. Our commitment is as deep as we desire it to be (James 4:8).

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There is almost nothing we can control in our lives, but how we live for Jesus is something we can control. To our shame, most of us choose to spend our time and energy in pursuits other than studying God’s Word or praying (Matthew 26:41). We can rationalize and make excuses all we want, but when we look in the mirror, each one of us knows the truth.

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