Daily Devotion in Luke 14

Daily Nugget:
In Luke 14:25-35, Jesus discusses some important, life-changing, power-giving decisions that all Christians face, whether they realize it or not. These resolves will develop a strong Christian character if the right choices are made. One of the most difficult and unusual life-changes one should make is found in verse 26, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”

Dr. John R. Rice, in Luke, The Son of Man1, explains it well:
“… the meaning is that love for Christ and loyalty to Him should so far exceed all other loves and loyalties, that they can hardly be expressed in the same terms. If you say that you love your father and mother and love God, that puts God and parents in about the same relationship, and that is not what Jesus requires. So here, to hate father and mother and wife and children and brothers and your own life also does not mean malice. It does not mean one should dishonor his parents. This Scripture does not here contradict the plain statement of Ephesians 5:25, that a husband is to love his wife, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it.

“As a car at sixty miles an hour passes a car at twenty miles an hour“ as if it were standing still,” so the love for Christ and loyalty for Christ so should supersede all other relationships of life, as to not even be labeled with the same terms … If people are to have the love and loyalty that will let them burn at the stake for Christ, be torn by wild beasts, be tortured on the rack, or eaten by cannibals, as many have been, then they must have a drastic love and loyalty for Christ not measurable by human comparisons.”

The key to having a Spirit-empowered life is genuine love for the one that saved us from Hell! This real love will make a Christian what God intended: a vessel fit for the Master to use.
“And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” Deuteronomy 6:5

1 Luke, The Son of Man, Dr. John R. Rice, Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1971, Pg. 352.

Today’s Thought: 
“Christians should have an attitude of gratitude and servitude.” — Author Unknown

Words to Understand:
Abased: hurt pride; shamed
Ambassage: ambassador; elder
Dropsy: Symptom of in the heart, liver, kidneys, and brain. Causes a collection of water in limbs and cavities of the body — Unger’s Bible Dictionary, Merrill Unger
Dunghill: the place human waste and other refuge is put
Halt: cripple; lame
Recompense: payback; reward

Today’s Reading:
Luke 14
1 And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him.
2 And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy.
3 And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?
4 And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go;
5 And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?
6 And they could not answer him again to these things.
7 ¶ And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,
8 When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;
9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.
10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.
11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.
13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.
15 ¶ And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.
16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:
17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.
18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.
25 ¶ And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,
26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
34 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?
35 It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.