Even If i Walk Alone

...this i choose to do.

Daily Life

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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Losing Loved Ones

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One of the greatest pains we can experience is losing loved ones. We ache because they are no longer with us. Gone are their smiles, their wit, and their wisdom. We miss the conversations and even their proximity. Life is finite but we don’t think of it thus. Death is always the cruelest surprise. For our loved ones who share our relationship with and love for Christ, we need not be sorrowful.

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Jealousy may be the more proper emotion as they are seeing Jesus face to face, held within his arms, while we continue our toil in the physical realm on earth. To experience true joy instead of sorrow when losing loved ones, we need a change of perspective, a new way to envision their life with us before their inevitable passing.

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Jesus is Not an Institution

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A pastor shared a cartoon drawing of Mary and baby Jesus. In the cartoon, Mary is comforting Jesus and asks if he had a nightmare. Jesus replies, “Yes, I dreamed I became an institution!” I don’t know what your reaction is to this, whether it’s laughter, disgust, or ambivalence. For me, it cut me to the core. What would Jesus think if He came back today to assess the state of the Church?

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What are we doing with and to the plan He has for our redemption? He spent His life showing how we should love and care for others. That is the essence of why the Church exists. God intends for us to represent Him here on earth. Instead, we’ve become just another business organization complete with heavy debts and ever-increasing administrative budgets.

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The Cost of Following Christ

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Wang Yi is the pastor of the Early Rain Covenant Church in China. The Chinese government arrested Pastor Yi, along with his wife and over 100 members of the church, in December 2018 after a period of prolonged harassment of the church by the Chinese government. While the official charge was “Inciting subversion of state power,” in reality the government arrested them for following and proclaiming the truth and good news of Jesus. Such a charge carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.

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After being later released, Yang’s wife and church members spoke of being tortured while under arrest. Police ransacked their homes and have kept them under close watch since their discharge. The release of Yang’s wife, Jiang, was conditional on posting bail and she lost considerable weight during her time being held in detention. She has been under house arrest with her young son for the past six months.

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Sleepwalking

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Did you ever wake up and realize you’ve been coasting through life? Suddenly, you recognize while you’ve been living, life has been passing you by. As followers of Christ, we should live soberly and with intention. Our time is limited, and when it runs out, those who have not chosen to surrender their lives to Jesus will be out of options. Their destiny will be eternal separation from God. They will spend eternity in Hell with the devil and his demons.

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We have the truth and a responsibility to share that truth. It has never been more important to break out of the malaise in which we’ve been living because time is shorter today than it was yesterday. If we don’t begin living with urgency, I promise we will one day face a horrific surprise as we discover we are out of time.

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