Articles
I Do Not Walk Alone
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil... (Ps. 23:4)” is one of the most powerful and repeated verses in the Bible. However, it only remains powerful if we believe in the second half of this verse, “…for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” The valleys and mountains of our lives will always be around the corner of the path and the only reason we get through them all is because of our relationship with God. He provides a whole church of people around the world to encourage and support us (Heb. 10:22-25). God takes His love for us one step further by promising to always be with us as well (Matt. 28:18-20).
God has created a world where you’ll never be alone if your heart remains focused on Him. Let’s take a look at the story of the disciple Matthew, who was a tax collector in Luke chapter 5. It is unknown whether Matthew took advantage of his authoritative position or was just a simple man doing the job he knew how to do. What is known is that as a tax collector, Matthew would have carried around an air of betrayal and Roman occupation. Thus, he was despised by the Jews and would have been thrown into the generalization of being a sinful and reviling man (Luke 5:30). In our modern society, how many times are customer service representatives instantly vilified by disgruntled customers for simply doing the job they were hired to do?
The disciple, Simon-Peter, teaches in 1 Peter 3:8 that all of Christ’s followers should have a united mind of sympathy, affection, and a compassionate heart. Assumptions, biases, and generalizations about others are the evil from which our tongues are to be guarded against. Everyone you encounter has the opportunity as created children of God to be fellow heirs in Christ (Titus 3:1-7). “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the of his Son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life (Rom. 5:10)!”
