Sunday, May 29, 2022

Luke 14 Devotions by Stephen Taylor

Luke 14:2-4

There in front of Him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, He healed him and sent him on his way.

Christ took hold of this man and healed him, He did the same for me and will do the same for you too! This man suffered with physical swelling, whereas mine was a spiritual swelling. Swelling with sin, pride, hurt, pain, shame, guilt, and so much more. To the naked eye, I might have not looked that bad, but to the God who sees everything, I was a mess. I was completely consumed with the sin swelling in me. Much like this man, it had effected my life greatly until Christ came and set me free! Make no mistake; He will do the same for you too!

Much like the man in this story, I didn’t know there was an answer to what ailed me until the Answer Himself came and saved me. I had heard of Jesus, but I didn’t truly know Him or His power until that day He changed everything.

Christ isn’t just for me, He isn’t just for you, but He is for everyone. Imagine knowing the cure to every diseases and sickness in the world and refusing to share it with those around you; that would be pretty terrible, wouldn’t it? Yet that’s exactly what we do on a much bigger scale when we refuse to share Christ with those around us. This isn’t just limited to speaking about Christ, but we must also live Him to those around us. People may forget a lot of things you tell them, but they seem to hold on to things you do for them longer. To live Christ to those around us is one of the greatest gifts we can give them; will we share the One who healed us with those He has placed in our lives?

My name is Stephen, and Jesus Christ saved me, and He will and He wants to save you too!

1 John 2:1,2- My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

Thank you Jesus! God bless! I love you all, but His love is freedom and healing. Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!

 

Luke 14:7

When He noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, He told them this parable:

How do we pick our seats, and at whose table are we sitting? Jesus found Himself eating with some of the prominent people of His time, the Pharisees. And though they were schooled in the Law of the Lord, it was far from their hearts. So He takes this opportunity to teach them that in the Kingdom, humility precedes honor, that those who humble themselves will be exalted, and vice versa.

In this story, the guests are posturing for a better position for themselves at the table. They aren’t trying to get closer to Christ but to be exalted in the eyes of man! Do we ever struggle with that? For Jesus is at the table, and yet the people aren’t trying to get closer to Him but rather to the place of honor. Isn’t it ironic that to be near Christ would be the true seat of honor, and yet we as people can miss that so easily and desire the seat of the world? We can get caught up in the ways of the world and its view much easier than we like to admit. As a fly gets caught in a web so we can get caught in this trap. It’s there, it’s deadly, and it’s almost invisible until it’s got you.

We can’t sit at both tables; we must choose one. We can humbly sit at the foot of Christ’s table, waiting for Him to call us up. Or we can proudly strut to the front of the world's table and be sent away embarrassed, broken, and rejected. Jesus gives us a very real, practical, and simple solution to this problem in this parable: humble yourselves or be humbled. As a person who struggles with pride at times, I choose this day to humble myself before my God, for He is worthy! Will you join me in this?

Luke 14:11- “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Proverbs 15:33- Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the LORD, and humility comes before honor.

Proverbs 18:12- Before a downfall the heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.

God bless! I love you all, but His love is the humblest and yet most powerful of all! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!

 

Luke 14:25-27

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them, He said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

They were traveling with Him, but were they ready to follow Him? Jesus makes a clear distinction between the two and wants us to know there is a cost to following Him. It will not cost to simply be around Him, but to truly be His and follow Him, it’s gonna cost.

On the surface, this teaching seems hard and crude; why would a loving God tell us to hate those He gave us to love? Is He trying to trick us, or confuse us? Absolutely not! What Jesus is teaching here is that nothing and no one in our lives is to be before Him. He is first, not because we make Him first but because He is God and will always be first, whether we acknowledge that or not.

We must understand Christ’s heart to understand His words. Looking through our human eyes on the surface, these Scriptures don’t make sense. But if we look at them through the heart of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, then we can see that He is teaching us to love Him most! I believe that Jesus picks this time to teach this because there were many around Him, but not many truly following Him, and He wanted them and us to know there is a difference.

Knowing His heart is crucial to our walk, and some of the ways we do this is by spending more time with Him in prayer and Bible reading. If we think of Him as some authoritarian waiting to crush us for each mistake, we will be less likely to run to Him in love and more likely to hide from Him in shame. We must remember it was Him who was crushed for our sins that we may become the righteousness of God! Not by our works but through His blood!

2 Corinthians 5:21- God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

God bless! I love you all, but His love paid it all! Thank You, Jesus, for saving a wretch like me! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!

 

 

 

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