Even If i Walk Alone

...this i choose to do.

I Corinthians

Casual Indifference

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I think we have the habit of not taking sin seriously enough. We all sin every day, but how much does it truly bother us? I was reading in Ezra and observed his reaction to his own sin. It says in Ezra 9:6, he was so embarrassed and ashamed of his sin he couldn’t even lift his eyes to face God. He recognized his sins and the sins of his people were higher than his head and his guilt was as high as the heavens.

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When was the last time you considered your sin like this? We are far too casual in response to our own sin. We know Jesus has paid the price for us, so no matter what we do, we’re covered. Somehow this has led us not into deeper repentance, but into casual indifference.

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Foolishness

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Since this post happens to be originally publishing on April Fool’s Day, I thought it to be a good time to discuss foolishness. Many who don’t know Christ think we who do are foolish to believe in a God we cannot see and can’t scientifically prove. I’ve always held it takes more faith to not believe in God than it does to believe in Him, so I think those without Jesus are more foolish than I am. To not believe in God means you are going to have to come up with explanations for everything in existence and to determine the reason for that very existence in the first place.

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Jesus makes sense to me. None of the scientific (or even unscientific) explanations others have offered passes either the logical or believability test. I may not be able to prove the existence of God, but by the same token, no one has ever been able to prove He doesn’t exist either.

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Finish the Race

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I think we all want to live a victorious life. No one sets out to be a loser. We all want to be winners. Since we’re going to be running the race of life every day, we may as well win. Otherwise, it seems like a tremendously futile endeavor. The apostle Paul said we all run the race to win, to earn the crown of victory (1 Corinthians 9:24).

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As long as we are running for Christ, there is nothing wrong with striving to win. We want our lives to be pleasing to Him. We want to live in such a way that will bring Him honor and glory, and in the process to further His mission and bring His Kingdom to earth as it is in Heaven.

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Nothing to Fear

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We spend too much of our lives in fear. We fear violence, terrorism, being disliked or ridiculed. We fear speaking up for justice or being the dissenting opinion in a crowd of peers. Some fear dying, while others fear being alone. Still others fear being forgotten, passed over, overlooked, or ignored. We fear financial markets and technology. There are so many things about which so many are afraid. This isn’t the way God designed us to live.

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He created us to be more than conquerors (Romans 8:37), with a spirit of boldness, not timidity (2 Timothy 1:7). You were created to love, not fear (1 John 4:18). Since God is for us, we know nothing can stand against us (Romans 8:31). As long as we are living our lives in the pursuit and will of God, we have nothing to fear.

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All Crown, No Cross

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Regular readers know I love the teachings of A.W. Tozer. I love the way he pulled no punches and possessed deep insight into the character of God. It’s uncanny how often his writing seems so relevant for today, but in truth was mostly written fifty or more years ago. Here’s something from him which I read recently: “There is something better than being comfortable, and the followers of Christ ought to find it out-the poor, soft, overstuffed Christians of our time ought to find it out!

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image © Elina Leonova via Fotolia

There is something better than being comfortable! We… have forgotten altogether that there is such a thing as discipline and suffering.” Along the same lines, he also wrote,” We do not want the cross. We are more interested in the crown.” To put it in simple terms, one could say Christians are “all crown, no cross”.

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