Declining God’s Invitation
OPENING PRAYER:
Father, we pray that you empower us to share your word boldly today, as the prophet Zechariah wrote of “the word that came to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty,” (Zechariah 4:6, NIV).
I Timothy 2:3-5, NIV
This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.
II Peter 3:9, NIV
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
REFLECT:
For the most part, our culture today holds high regard for those who are “good.” By good we think of someone who is kind to others, who performs acts of service for the poor and needy. We admire that person who befriends another and who never hesitates to lend a helping hand. We might be in line at a fast-food restaurant drive through and offer to pay for the meal of the car behind us and think that was a good deed. If there were such a thing, we might consider certain benevolent people as ones who have a lot of “good points” accumulated. When one of these people we consider “good” passes away, we have a tendency to think, “wow, he or she was a great person, I’m sure they went to heaven,” but of course, that’s not how it works.
Luke 19:10, NIV says “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” You see, it’s not about being good. It’s about committing our lives to Jesus Christ. As I Timothy 2:5, NIV, says today, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.” God does not want anyone to decline His invitation to inheriting eternal life – but many do decline, simply by not choosing Him.
APPLY:
God has given us freewill to choose. John 3:17, NIV, says “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” God made provision for us for eternal life: “But demonstrates His own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us,” (Romans 5:8, NIV). The choice is ours. Will we accept his invitation and ask Him into our hearts or will we choose to follow our own worldly pleasures, ignore Him and essentially “decline” His invitation. Joshua 24:15, NIV, says it best: “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
CLOSING PRAYER:
Dear Lord, thank you for your invitation to the wedding banquet! I choose you and I rejoice that, one day, I will join you in heaven to live forever. “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain,” (Philippians 1:21, NIV).