Incredulous Invitations

 ”…and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’“ Luke‬ ‭14‬:‭17‬-‭18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

‘Come unto me, and I will give you rest’ is no doubt an incredible invitation to the kingdom and a guarantee of salvation from sin and worldly stress. But when hope of believers get readily deferred, future invitations from the Lord can easily become incredulous invitations. The hopeless experience of many believers is succinctly captured by the parable of the Lord on the invited guests to the great banquet. ‘Come, for all things are now ready’…But they all with one accord began to make excuses. Apparently, the invited guests all gave those excuses because of their bottled up offenses and hopelessness in the readiness of the Master. Likewise, it is very dangerous for believers to take a vacation on their hope in the promises of the Lord, especially the ultimate rest in the kingdom of God. God’s promised rest is always evident in believers’ everyday challenges and the vicissitudes of life, particularly through His abiding presence. Therefore, God’s invitation is always incredible; but it gets incredulous only to those who go on an hopeless vacation, and fail to see the presence of the Lord and His consistent workings to get all things ready.

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