I stumbled upon this text about a year ago and I was 'cut to the core. Brothers what shall we do!?!?' It convicted me so badly about the nominal way that I follow Jesus.
In this passage we find Jesus telling a story of a great wedding banquet in which the host invites many guests. The banquet is a picture of Heaven and the host is God the father, the great Host of Hosts. He invites us to come. "At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.'" The responses are crippling... they all begin to make excuses; the first says, 'I have just bought a field and I must go see it. Please excuse me.' The second says, 'I just bought five yoke of oxen and I am on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.' Still another said, 'I just got married so I can't come.' The servant went back and reported and the Host was furious. This is the picture of us. God gives us this great invite and we make excuses of why we can't come.
Imagine, if you will, that you have been invited to the NBA finals this year. Someone has given you the opportunity to go to the game and sit in the box seats. I just recently was invited to sit in box seats for a Chicago Bulls game and it was incredible! Food was provided and it was delicious, beverages were included, they even brought a dessert cart around and it was phenomenal! The seats are overlooking the court so you can see all the action. Now imagine if you got invited to the NBA finals this year. Someone asks you if you would like to be flown out to L.A. to watch the Lakers battle it out at the Staples Center against the rivaling east coast team, the Boston Celtics on Tuesday June 10th(provided both teams win this week). The airline tickets to L.A. are easily 400 dollars on such short notice, but this person has agreed to pay for them. Also included is a Hotel stay at the Los Angeles Marriott Downtown. This individual booked box seating for 20 individuals that cost $37, 145 (I just looked online) and you get it all to yourself. But, you can bring your friends for free too provided that you can convince them to come, should be easy enough. Now granted it might be hard to get time off work, convince parents that it is a good idea, etc... but you would be stupid not to go. Honestly, even if you hate basketball it would still be a fun get away to sunny LA. And, imagine if you said without even a hesitation or regret that you had to work, or you had just bought a new toy, or that your significant other wouldn't let you go... That would be so dumb! ...And likewise we do this to God all the time. He has given us the gift of Eternity and we make excuses.
The reason that those people didn't attend the banquet is because they didn't know what they were missing. This is no ordinary banquet. This is the feast of eternal life! You don't pass it up if you understand its infinite value! Jesus goes on in verses 25 and on to say that this is of more value than family, friends, career, even your life! And that we should count the cost before RSVP' ing and then skipping out on the party. Don't say you are a Christ follower if you aren't planning on attending the festivities. This is the greatest invite you have ever recieved. Clear your schedule, plan everything else around it, don't be distracted by the things of this world. This is everything! This is our treasure!
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