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Day 297 or October the 24th. Don't be distracted.

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Our thoughts today come from Luke chapter 23

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verse 34. Jesus said, Father forgive them, for

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they do not know what they are doing, and they

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divided up his clothes by casting lots. Now the

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big picture surrounding this verse. Pilate finally

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condemns Jesus, and he is taken away for crucifixion.

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Luke faithfully records the death, resurrection,

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and many sightings of the risen Christ, as he

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concludes his history of the earthly life of

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Jesus. It is thanks to Luke that we have a detailed

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account of the meeting between the risen Jesus

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and the downhearted disciples on the road to

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Emmaus. His next writing project is to write

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the key events in the early church in a book

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that we call Acts of the Apostles. In true soap

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opera style, Luke ends with a riveting climax

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as Jesus ascends back to heaven. What a sight!

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He then repeats this miracle at the beginning

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of Acts of the Apostles, just like we often get

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a review of what happened last week when we watch

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a TV series. And now our action step for today.

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In the middle of the most dramatic events in

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the whole of history, we read of some anonymous

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Roman soldiers sharing out the clothing of a

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local carpenter, and not hearing the words that

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would have changed their lives forever. I wonder

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if these soldiers ever mused over such a missed

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opportunity later in life. I wonder if they did,

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and we will meet them in heaven. Whatever it

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was that happened to them, In this verse we have

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a great reminder to fix our eyes on Jesus and

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not to be distracted by the irrelevancies of

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life. I firmly believe that far more people would

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believe in Jesus if they spent a few minutes

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considering his claims. However, that is true

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for many believers too. We would be so much closer

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to Jesus if only we spent more quality time with

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him. I know of no one who said on their deathbed

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that they had spent too much time with the things

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of Jesus, and how they wished they had spent

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less. Is it time to get serious, and give Jesus

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the time he deserves?