{"id":10084,"date":"2026-05-31T07:31:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T11:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=10084"},"modified":"2026-05-26T07:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T11:20:11","slug":"god-who-bears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=10084","title":{"rendered":"God Who Bears"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/20201014_103918-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/20201014_103918-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7791\" width=\"536\" height=\"714\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/20201014_103918-768x1024.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/20201014_103918-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/20201014_103918-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/20201014_103918-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/20201014_103918-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 536px) 100vw, 536px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prodigal:  Here is the bear!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Me:  Now, that is a bear!  We are not talking about that bear though..<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is from the book The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For God is a God who bears.  The Son of God bore our flesh, he bore the cross, he bore the sins, thus making atonement for us.  In the same way his followers are also called upon to bear, and that is precisely what it means to be a Christian.  Just as Christ maintained his communion with the Father by his endurance, so his followers are to maintain their communion with Christ by their endurance.  We can of course shake off the burden which is laid upon us, but only find that we have a still heavier burden to carry&#8211;a yoke of our own choosing, the yoke of our self.  But Jesus invites all who travail and are heavy laden to throw off their own yoke and take his yoke upon them&#8211;and his yoke is easy, and his burden is light.  The yoke and the burden of Christ are his cross.  To go one&#8217;s way under the sign of the cross is not misery and desperation, but peace and walk under our self-made laws and burdens, but under the yoke of him who knows us and who walks under the yoke with us.  Under his yoke we are certain of his nearness and communion.  It is he whom the disciple finds as he lifts up his cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If he say thus, It is well; thy servant shall have peace: but if he be very wroth, then be sure that evil is determined by him. 1 Samuel 20:7 (KJV)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jennifer Van Allen<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">www.theprodigalpig.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">www.faithincounseling.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prodigal: Here is the bear! Me: Now, that is a bear! We are not talking about that bear though.. This is from the book The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer For God is a God who bears. The Son of God bore our flesh, he bore the cross, he bore the sins, thus making &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=10084\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>God Who Bears - The Prodigal Pig<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In today&#039;s devotion we have Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Talking about taking up our cross and following him.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=10084\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"God Who Bears - The Prodigal Pig\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In today&#039;s devotion we have Dietrich Bonhoeffer. 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