ESOCS Devotional 13 April 2023
MEMORY VERSE: “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:33
TEXT: LUKE 14:25-35
25 Now huge crowds were going along with [Jesus], and He turned and said to them,
26 If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his [own] father and mother [[a]in the sense of indifference to or relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude toward God] and [likewise] his wife and children and brothers and sisters—[yes] and even his own life also—he cannot be My disciple.
27 Whoever does not persevere and carry his own cross and come after (follow) Me cannot be My disciple.
28 For which of you, wishing to build a [b]farm building, does not first sit down and calculate the cost [to see] whether he has sufficient means to finish it?
29 Otherwise, when he has laid the foundation and is unable to complete [the building], all who see it will begin to mock and jeer at him,
30 Saying, This man began to build and was not able ([c]worth enough) to finish.
31 Or what king, going out to engage in conflict with another king, will not first sit down and consider and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand [men] to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
32 And if he cannot [do so], when the other king is still a great way off, he sends an envoy and asks the terms of peace.
33 So then, any of you who does not forsake (renounce, surrender claim to, give up, [d]say good-bye to) all that he has cannot be My disciple.
34 Salt is good [an excellent thing], but if salt has lost its strength and has become saltless (insipid, flat), how shall its saltness be restored?
35 It is fit neither for the land nor for the manure heap; men throw it away. He who has ears to hear, let him listen and consider andcomprehend by hearing!
Read Yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
Have you ever considered why Lot’s wife looked back or why the three men recorded in Luke 9:57-62 could not follow Christ? Or still, why Christianity is not attractive to many. The Christian life is a call; a call to a new life and a new way of doing things. It operates on conditions and principles different from those operating in the world. As day is to night and light is to darkness, so is the way of the kingdom of God different from the way of the world. It is so different that the world cannot understand the things of the kingdom and sees them as foolishness.
Man in being called to Christianity is being asked to leave the way of life he knows and is used to; a way of life that he is comfortable with, that works for earth life and by which many have achieved success on earth. It has given many wealth and riches and pleasures; and others have by it attained high and lofty positions and acquired power and influence. But all these are of the world and the world with its glories, the Bible says, is passing away (1 John 2:16-17). God, in Christianity, is calling man from this vain life that leads to eternal damnation to a life that is sanctified to Him; a life that leads to an eternity of bliss living in His presence. The implication of answering this call is to break away from the world and embrace the kingdom of God. The cost will be a loss of the values the world gives. Christ is teaching us in this scripture that all who will answer the call need to know the cost. It will not be okay to answer the call and leave your heart in the world. There is so much benefit in total surrender to Christ. Think on His words in Matt 6:22: “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.” Answering the Kingdom call is an issue you need to consider and a decision you have to make.
- hat decisions have you had to make to answer God’s call and to remain a Christian.
- Do you have any reason to regret following Christ?
- ord, we pray that you consecrate our lives to you. Keep our hearts and mind fixed on you that our whole life may be yours. Amen.
FURTHER READING: 2 Samuel 24:1-14; Jeremiah 39:1-end; Matthew 27:27-44; 1 Peter 2:1-end
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ESOCS Devotional 13 April 2023
