Even If i Walk Alone

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

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Love Your Neighbor

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Most of us are familiar with the greatest commandment: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:28-30). And while I think we are aware of the second greatest commandment, “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31), it seems we give that one more lip service. I’m not sure that’s ever more obvious than during a Presidential election season.

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I see a lot of evidence that many forget their allegiance is to Jesus and not to a political party. It manifests in the words we say to each other. To love your neighbor as yourself means to love them even if they support opposing political ideals or candidates than you do. Loving those who agree with us is easy. Discipleship is hard.

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When Discouragement Strikes

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Discouragement hits us all. In our fallen world, no one gets a free pass through life without encountering discouragement from time to time. We feel overwhelmed and aren’t certain how we can get it all done. Too often, the support system around us lets us down, which only adds to our discouragement and despair. During these seasons, it’s difficult to even pray. While we know it is the quickest way out of discouragement, our prayers have trouble escaping from our lips, and even when they do, they seem to hit the ceiling and bounce back down.

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In our discouragement, we can feel helpless, and at the brink of despair. In these moments, it is helpful to remember and recount how God has been with you in the past and take encouragement from knowing He will continue to be with you on the other side of this temporary bout of discouragement.

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Redeem the Time

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Getting older proves to be a diligent reminder of how little time we have on this earth. Despite youthful delusions, we are finite and will all die. For followers of Jesus, this is not a morbid thought but a cause for celebration. At the same time, it is a sobering realization that there is much work for us to do and little time in which to do it. It is also a call to action.

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Our time has never been our own, but we live as if it were. Every breath has been given to us by our masterful Creator, and it is our responsibility to steward it well. Time is short and growing shorter. The mission is urgent. If we do not redeem the time for God’s purposes, we risk dying with our work unfulfilled, our service wasted. This need not be the way it goes.

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Psalm 84

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We live in crazy days.  For someone ready to be done with it all and to just be in God’s presence for most of my last twenty years or more, days like these make me realize how much I want to be home with Him. I’m not giving up. I know as long as I’m alive, God has things for me to do. I want to serve Him with everything I have until He brings me into His presence.

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Until then, I admit there is a part of me that feels like I am just biding my time, doing what I must do to get by until I get to be with Him. Reading Psalm 84 this morning only reinforced my feelings.

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Counter-Cultural

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In a world that promotes self-aggrandizement and getting ahead, living life as a humble servant is truly counter-cultural. It is to invite ridicule, derision, and condescending pity from the masses. No one chooses to live this way because it is easy or socially acceptable. We choose it because Jesus told us this is the way to live. By His own example, Jesus showed although He was superior to all, He chose to be a servant to all (John 13:3-17). He told His disciples anyone who sought to get ahead would be sent to the back of the line (Matthew 19:23-30).

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In the upside-down Kingdom of God, the way to get ahead is to stop promoting yourself and begin building up others. For followers of Christ, life is not about becoming the best known or loved. It’s about serving others in such a way they might see Jesus in us and come to know Him for themselves.

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