Bridget A. Thomas
Every day is a gift!
Luke 14
Read Luke 14 in your Bible. Or you can also read it here.
“In the same way, those who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.” – Luke 14:33
I fear there are many people out there who just want to have a casual relationship with God. They just want to squeeze Him in when it’s convenient. They just want to pull certain Bible verses that work for them, and discard the rest. Perhaps they just want to meet up on Sunday for an hour. But the remaining 167 hours in the week? Well, God is off limits. They don’t want Him to point out the things that need to change. They don’t want to hear about anything they need to give up. They don’t want to be put in uncomfortable conversations. They want to play it safe and not get too close. They have one foot in and one foot out.
For the people who live like this, I have to wonder if one day they will hear Jesus say, “I never knew you.” (See Matthew 7:21-23.) This is heartbreaking to think about it.
But shouldn’t we want to live for Jesus? Think about all that He has done for us, all that He gave for us. Why wouldn’t our salvation alone compel us to give God our whole heart?
Yes, we might have to change or give some things up. As Kyle Idleman, pastor and author of Not a Fan said, “There is no way to follow Jesus without him interfering with your life. Following Jesus will cost you something. Following Jesus always costs something.” (Side note, the book Not a Fan will completely change your walk with God. I highly recommend it.)
But when our hearts are completely committed to Him, we don’t mind changing for Him. We don’t mind giving up things for Him. We learn that He always has our best interest at heart. So if He asks us to let go of something, then we know it is for our good. And we happily comply. And we will never have any regrets when we place our lives in His loving hands.
I invite you to pray this prayer with me…
Dear Jesus, You made a huge sacrifice for me, by taking on my sin and dying on the cross. You paid a debt that I could never pay. I am so very thankful. I know I cannot repay You, but I want to live my life for You. I want to give You my whole heart. Please help me to let go of anything that is holding me back. Please reveal to me anything that is standing in the way of my relationship with. Thank You. It is in Your beautiful name I pray, Amen.
If you are also participating in the Gratitude Challenge, there are only 15 days left. You can do it! Continue to record 10 “gifts” in your life.
© 2021 Bridget A. Thomas
Bridget A. Thomas 
It was a huge thing in my life to learn how deeply God loved me and His love would never leave me when I failed to walk like Him. I am not shook up when I hear about a Christian friend falling into sin. The enemy of our soul loves to take down strong Christians for that causes others ones to fall into the sin of judging. Then the enemy has us. The minutes we think we could never do what so and so did, he has us. All it takes is for the enemy to use our weak spot and we all have them. I personally think we need more teaching on how to restore a brother or sister who has back slid or fallen away.
I think we will be surprised at who Jesus will say those words to when they get to heavens door. I think there will those who looked good on the outside, doing all the right things but never put their trust full on Jesus alone. Having a relationship with a Holy God and His Son and Spirit is totally about trust, never about doing. I love the scriptures II Cor. 5:14 For the love of Christ control or motivates us, having concluded this: that one died for all, therefore all died and He died for all, so that they who live might not live for themselves but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
For me the key to even wanting to walk with Christ is know He died for me, its His love for me that motivates me to not sin and when I do to get it right. That love makes me want to be know His Word, tell others about His great love. Only God can judge a heart, we judge with an outward look at outward issues. There is a going I love to sing, an old blue grass song titles, When He Sees Me, He sees the Blood of the Lamb. He does not need to look at my words to judge me, only my heart.
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By the way, thanks for this post, good one, caused me to search my heart and get in the Word.
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Betty, Thank you so much for sharing your heart and your insight. It was beautifully written and thought provoking. I agree with your sentiments on Christians who have sinned. We ALL fall short, so who are we to judge? And having a mentorship or something to help those who have stumbled is a great idea. I am convinced that Christians as a whole need to be more transparent. If we were, I think this would help others so much. But we tend to put on masks and hide behind walls. I also love what you said about God’s love for us. I think so many of us, myself included, do not fully grasp the Lord’s love. If we could really get a better understanding of how much He loves us, that would truly change so many things in our lives. We would walk in freedom and love, spreading His light to those around us. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts! This was a wonderful chat! ♥️
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A casual relationship with God is hard to understand for me. It makes me wonder if they are actually saved or not as I do think that His presence within us cannot be without making some change in us.
Paul says, His grace to me was not without effect. So I wonder if some receive His grace and do nothing further with it. If that is the case the parable of the talents comes to mind where the one who buried the talent (did nothing with what he received). And he was cast into darkness.
While saying that I do realise that we all fall short and we are in position to judge. But what I say is related to those who purposely continue on in the path that is not necessarily God honouring because his grace and forgiveness is kind of taken for granted and misused.
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Such an excellent point! And I appreciate the verse and the parable that you pointed out. I agree. When we are in a relationship with the Lord, He will change us from the inside out. Dr. Stanley says that as long as we are on this earth, God will be shaping us to be more and more like His Son. And when we hand our lives over to Him, we will actually WANT to change. We will see that the sins of this world are no longer desirable. And we will know that He has what’s best for us. Thank you for sharing your insights! Blessings, dear friend!
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Amen 🙏🏽 ✝️. I’m so thankful He went all the way. Personally, I can hear myself saying, “ Lord, this burden is TOO much for me to bear. Please remove it from me!” Praise God for the Christ’s faithfulness.
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I agree! What Jesus did for us is unfathomable. Thinking of the suffering is heartbreaking. Yet He did it willingly. For you, for me, and for anyone who will accept this amazing and precious gift of grace. That one fact alone should make us shout from the rooftops!! 🙌✝️🙏
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We must guard against going through motions. Unfortunately that is what is happening in much of the Christian community. God see our hearts and desires intimacy with us. I like what you said about him knowing what is best for us and asking us to give stuff up for our good. He tries to keep us safe from harm by telling us to avoid harmful things. We are called to be different, which requires change. Thanks Bridget.
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I agree with all that you said. And yes He absolutely does desire intimacy with us. Once we take the time and effort to have a relationship with Him, it’s so very worth it. Our hearts will find so much peace and love and joy. And as it says in James 4:8, when we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. What comfort that brings!! Thank you for sharing your insights, Dawn!
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