<\/p>\n
\u201cThen He said to them all: \u2018Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me.’\u201d<\/em> -Luke 9:23<\/p>\n Have you ever paid a lot for something you really wanted? When I was a teenager, I saved up enough money to buy 50% of my first car. I really wanted the car, but more than that, I wanted what the car represented: Freedom!\u00a0 As a teenager, I was desperate to get out of the house. I knew that getting a car would afford me this. And so, I was willing to pay the price for that freedom.<\/p>\n We know we are called to new levels when what was once acceptable behavior now gives us a \u201ccheck in our spirit\u201d, of an increased sense of conscience. What once was okay and even okay for others is no longer okay for us. These smaller discrepancies in what is right or wrong is described in this scripture: \u201cOne person\u2019s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.\u201d -Romans 14:2.<\/p>\n This doesn\u2019t necessarily have to do with food \u2013 it could be our habits, our discipline, the way we relate to others, how we spend our money or time, or the words we speak. But, we will find that when we act on this new conviction it will bring new levels of freedom, even if it costs us at first.<\/p>\n God creates boundaries for our own benefit. And, by doing so, we discover more of His abundant life in the process. \u201cFor if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God\u2019s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!\u201d -Romans 5:17<\/p>\n Is there any area of your life where you feel an increased sense of conscience? When we are called by Christ, we are given great responsibility. Take up the cross that God has called you to.<\/p>\n Subscribe Now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Cost of the Cross \u201cThen He said to them all: \u2018Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me.’\u201d -Luke 9:23 Have you ever paid a lot for something you really wanted? When I was a teenager, I saved up enough money to buy 50%<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2492,535],"class_list":["post-25154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-devotionals","tag-cost","tag-cross"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}