{"id":9979,"date":"2021-11-26T06:37:15","date_gmt":"2021-11-26T12:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-luke-14\/"},"modified":"2021-10-26T15:29:21","modified_gmt":"2021-10-26T20:29:21","slug":"devotional-on-luke-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-luke-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on Luke"},"content":{"rendered":"
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2014 – Day trip to Vancouver, BC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The carried cross<\/p>\n

Luke 14: Anyone who won\u2019t shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can\u2019t be my disciple.<\/p>\n

Jesus is now one of the most famous people in all of Israel. Everywhere he goes he\u2019s accompanied by a large crowd. On this day, to everyone\u2019s surprise he stops, turns, and addresses them all. There\u2019s nothing gentle about what he says to them. If they want to really follow him and not just be tagalongs they have to let go of all else. Family ties have to be loosed. Claims to self-sovereignty have to be renounced. These are hard enough words, but then he adds, \u201cIf you won\u2019t shoulder your own cross you can\u2019t be my disciple.\u201d These Jewish people absolutely hate the cross. It\u2019s not only the instrument of cruel execution but it\u2019s the symbol of their humiliation under Roman rule. The cross not only means death for the one who is so unfortunate as to be hung on it, but it\u2019s also the means of grinding to dust the pride of the entire nation. Those who are following Jesus in hopes of seeing a miracle or at least getting a free meal need to rethink their discipleship. To this day the decision to follow Jesus should be a thoughtful one. Long after the memory of seeing a \u201cmiracle\u201d fades and the meal has been digested the cross remains. The occupied cross becomes for Christians the symbol of God\u2019s love for us. The empty cross becomes the symbol of resurrection and hope. The carried cross is the mark of our continued sacrifice and commitment to Jesus.<\/p>\n

Take Away: Am I a tagalong or a genuine follower of Jesus? The answer is found in my willingness or unwillingness to take up the cross.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The carried cross Luke 14: Anyone who won\u2019t shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can\u2019t be my disciple. Jesus is now one of the most famous people in all of Israel. Everywhere he goes he\u2019s accompanied by a large crowd. On this day, to everyone\u2019s surprise he stops, turns, and addresses them all. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1515,1428],"tags":[1229,230,1247,939],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9979"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9979"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15791,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9979\/revisions\/15791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}