Even If i Walk Alone

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

surrender

Superficial Religion

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Charles Spurgeon said, “Superficial religion will always be fashionable because it does not require self-denial.” If you ever question whether your faith is genuine, ask yourself how much self-denial you are exercising in your life. Jesus made it very clear: if you are going to follow Him, you must deny yourself (Luke 9:23). You cannot be a Christ follower and live your life indulging in sinful lusts and behaviors (Romans 8:12–13).

There is a way that seems good, pleasing, and desirable to us, but that way of living only ends in death and eternal punishment (Proverbs 14:12). Genuine faith is manifested in self-denial, a putting away of the old ways of the flesh, and walking as a new creation in the power of God’s Spirit (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 2:19-20).

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Too Late

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In 1872, J. C. Ryle wrote, “At present, we must all be aware, the vast majority of professing Christians care nothing at all about [genuine salvation]. They have no sense of sin. They have no love towards Christ… Repentance, and faith, and grace, and holiness, are mere words and names to them.” He concludes by adding, “Knowledge, conviction, the value of the soul, the need of a Savior, shall all burst on men’s minds one day like a flash of lightning. But alas! It will be too late.”

Over 150 years later, nothing has changed. Countless professing Christians are no more saved than their pagan neighbors (Matthew 7:21–23; Titus 1:16). Decades of watered-down, feel-good, easy-believism teaching from pulpits and stages around the world have damned the souls of millions (Jeremiah 6:14; 2 Timothy 4:3–4).

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Living to Die

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The reason Jesus came to earth and lived as a man was to die. His purpose from birth was to lay down His life so that we might live (Mark 10:45; John 10:10–11). . Now we must surrender our lives and let Him live through us. If we are to be genuine disciples of Jesus, we must spend our lives living to die (Luke 9:23–24; John 12:24–25). We must die to our passions and dreams. Die to our hopes and ambitions, and die to everything we ever wanted to be.

The funny thing about death is that it means the end of us, and until we come to the end of ourselves, we will never understand what it means to be alive (Matthew 16:25). If we would walk as Jesus walked, we must die to everything and everyone (Luke 14:26–27). Having been crucified with Christ, we no longer live (Galatians 2:19-20; Colossians 3:3).

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Practicing the Gospel

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There seems to be no end to the wisdom of J. C. Ryle, evidence of how saturated his life was with the Word of God. Here is a quote of his I read this week: “The Gospel which we possess was not given us only to be admired, talked of, professed—but practiced! The Gospel was not meant merely to reside in our intellect, memories, and tongues—but to be seen in our lives.” Today, we love to talk and express our opinions.

From everyday conversations, to the workplace, to the dreaded social media, it’s easy to talk about what we believe if we possess the boldness to do so. Far more important than our words, though, are our actions. The good news of Jesus is not something to be hidden (Matthew 5:14–16), but something to be shared with the entire world (Matthew 28:19–20; Mark 16:15). Are you practicing the Gospel?

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Your One Life

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God has given you this one life to live for Him. What are you doing with such a wonderful gift? Are you spending it honoring Him, using every moment to glorify Him? Or are you squandering the precious little time afforded to you in selfish and self-glorifying ways? How you live your one life will dictate where you spend eternity (Galatians 6:7–8).

Looking back over my life, it’s nauseating to see how much time I let slip by and how many opportunities I didn’t seize to make much of Jesus. I think that’s true for most of us. As we mature in our faith, we can’t help but look back sometimes and grieve over the wasted hours and years. We can do nothing about the life that has passed, but we can live the rest of our days in better and more faithful obedience to our King.

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