Untouched Feast

Last night, I texted a few ladies to see if they would be able to attend the small group I had just started the week before.

As I received a number of valid reasons why they could not attend, I wondered why God wanted me to lead the small group.

Since one lady was definitely coming, I began to cut the fresh bread I had just bought for the evening.

Smelling the freshness, I thought, they don't know what they're missing.

At that moment, God impressed on my heart how often He must feel the same way.

How often does God prepare a feast, invite the guests and wait for us to come--only for us to give excuses and reject His free, benevolent blessings?!

  

This scenario reminds me of the parable Jesus tells in Matthew 22:1-14:

Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying:

"The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invitied that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.'

But they paid no attention and went off--one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The kind was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to banquet anyone you find.' So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothers?' The man was speechless.

Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

For many are invited, but few are chosen."

Are you among the chosen?
1 John 5:13 says, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life."

• If you have never met Jesus, let me know, and I will be more than happy to share who He is and what He has done for you.

• If you know about Jesus but do not have a personal relationship with Him, let me know what you know, and I will do my best to introduce you to my Best Friend on a more personal level.

• If you are already living fully for Jesus, praise God and rejoice in the blessings to come--whether on earth or in heaven!