Tag Archives: invitation

Rest! Rest! Rest!

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Dear Family

I just love the invitation we read about in Matthew 11:28 from the Lord of the Universe: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Wow! What other “god” has ever issued such an invitation? In all religions we see lengthy rituals and rules meticulously laid out for blinded devotees to follow in order to try to appease the said “god”. There is just no end to the burden laid upon their shoulders as they strive day in and day out towards satisfying the demands of their deity.

In our case, the invitation is quite simple: “You earth people, you owe me big time. You have zero chance of ever pleasing me. Zero chance of ever matching my standards. Zero chance of ever being able to pay me what you owe me. So, now here’s the deal: stop trying, lay down your efforts, accept that I have stood in your place, and now enjoy my rest!”

How can we ever begin to understand or to define the grace of God? That He should love people enough to do the unthinkable in order to make a way that people can enjoy fellowship and oneness with Him.
I do try to understand that many people today do not feel they need a god, that they do not need forgiveness, that they do not need any cosmic favour outside of their selfish existence. But the fact remains, “the wages of sin is death”! In the midst of this hopeless and helpless condition, Jesus issues an invitation to all, “Come to me.”
Resting in God’s grace can only be accomplished by coming unashamedly and unconditionally to the Author of grace, Jesus Christ. How often we come with our agendas, our preconceived ideas, and possibly even our religious notions. But Jesus invites us to come just as we are to Him, exchanging all our stuff, for His glorious rest and indescribable peace.

Why not reply to that Heavenly Invitation today? “Thank you, Jesus. I come. I lay at your feet every bit of weariness in trying to appease you and please you. I bring every burden of just never being good enough, and swop it all for your rest!” Whoop! Whoop!

Paul

An Invitation

Christian life, ,

My, my, my, how time has flown by and when we look back, we see that another day, another week, another month has passed swiftly by and our yesterdays have just become memories. There is a constant battle going on between good and evil. The prince of darkness is busy corrupting the minds of people, causing some to commit suicide through various reasons. Babies are aborted before they are unable to utter their first words “Mama or Dada” or suck from their mother’s breast. Numerous diseases are ravaging young and old, leaving families devastated. In spite of all this negativity, hope comes to us through the Word. God is like a light house piercing the darkness, bringing hope to the weary and broken hearted. According to God’s Word a day is about to dawn, Luke 12:35-38 tells us about a great feast that is going to take place, and the host is going to be Jesus. The R.S.V.P. requires that we, the redeemed of the Lord, must be ready for His return with great expectancy. The day is not stated nor the time, He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever He comes, there will be special favour for His servants who are ready. I would like to imagine that this occasion is going be a great reunion with loved ones who have gone on before us, but most all Jesus will be the centre of the feast, the King Himself, the Angels, all the saints who acknowledged Jesus as Lord. Jesus has sent out His invitation for this great occasion, the onus on us to receive it.

Eating Dinner in God’s Kingdom

Christian Life, , ,

EATING DINNER IN GOD’S KINGDOM

“That triggered a response from one of the guests.’How fortunate the one who gets to eat dinner in God’s kingdom!’ …..’Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full! Let me tell you, not one of those originally invited is going to get as much as a bite at my dinner party.'” Luke 14:14-24 (The Message).

There’s a sting in the tale (!) of Jesus’ response to the comment made by the dinner guest. He never allowed the thought to pass that God makes arbitrary decisions for people, bypassing their freedom to choose and their responsibility for making the right choices,

God’s kingdom has been flung wide open to all people, but there are still rules by which people gain entrance. This man (the one who made the comment) was more than likely a Jew, traditionally a member of God’s chosen people. Jesus forcefully drew his attention to the history of his people. In spite of God’s goodness to them, they ignored His invitation to a life of blessing and prosperity by doing life His way. The ‘dinner table’ had been set and laden with the bounty of His love and favour, but it required  ‘coming to the party’ by being obedient to His commands.

God has not prepared His banquet for nothing. There is more than enough for everyone but He will not force anyone to accept His invitation and neither will He waste His grace on those who think their way is better. ‘Go out,’ He instructs His servants, ‘and find those who are willing to come in. I must have my house full of guests.’

Those who are decent and properly dressed but refuse the invitation will be left out and those who are ‘misfits, homeless and wretched’ will be welcomed to the banqueting table simply because they accept the invitation. God is not concerned about the condition of their lives. He can take care of that. His forgiveness is sufficient to clean up their past and give them a new start as long as they accept His offer.

It was imperative for the man to understand that membership of God’s chosen people did not automatically give him entrance into the kingdom of God. That required a personal response to God’s invitation. Once again, unlike man-made religion that does not understand the inborn freedom and responsibility to choose, God does not intrude into the non-negotiable gift of free will.

Jesus made it clear to Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel and one who should have understood the nature of God’s kingdom, that no-one can ‘see’ or ‘enter’ the kingdom of God without a radical, Spirit-energised ‘new birth’ into the realm of God’s rule (John 3). This is God’s powerful response to the simple decision of any person, regardless of his present state of heart or behaviour, to recognise who is in charge, submit to His authority and surrender the right to direct the course of his own life.

Entering God’s kingdom involves a change of destiny (from hell to heaven), a change of direction (from self to God), a change of master (from Satan to Jesus), and a transformation of disposition, (from selfish greed to selfless service), and it all happens through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in those who make the simple decision to believe what God says and accept His invitation to ‘eat at His table.’

Strange how the ‘table’ of the world has nothing to offer but misery, loss and futility and yet people continue to choose that in place of the limitless bounty of God’s love, forgiveness and blessing. You can have either but

The choice is yours…