Open Invitation part 2
The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." Not "Come... or else," but "Come and get it!" What God has made available to us--specifically in the context of Revelation 22:17--is the living water. And the caveat is, "Let the one who is thirsty, come." That's literally all it takes. If you want what God has made available to you... it's yours! Because IN making it available to us... He has given it to us. The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. Jesus living His own abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love in us, and through us, and as us. But let's talk about the invitation a little bit. This is a big story, but I want to lay it out so we can talk about for the next couple of days. "Hearint this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, "What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the Kingdom of God!" Jesus replied wtih this story: "A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, 'Come, the banquet is ready.' But they all began making excuses. One said, 'I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.' Another said, 'I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.' Another said, 'I just got married, so I can't come.' The servant returned and told his mater what they had said. His master was furious and said, 'Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.' After the servant had do ne this, he reported, 'There is still room for more.' So his master said, 'Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet'" (Luke 14:15-224, NLT). There's a whole lot there. And we could really dive in deep and look at each one of the excuses, and the Spiritual meanings, but what I really want from this story, for today--and the rest of this Rant series--is the idea that nobody who was invited wanted to come... and the idea that the master (God) and his servant (Jesus) opened the door to any and everybody. Opened it... and even urged people to come in. Now get this: Those who didn't come were too busy with their own affairs. Those who came... were those we are hungry. When we think we've got it all figured out, we kind of tend to "leave God out of it." I can handle this. I'm good. And it's not until it's too late that we try to get Him involved again. Which is kind of the point of the whole thing: God doesn't just want to be a PART of your life. He wants to BE your life. Because He IS life! One of the verses heavy on my heart lately is Psalm 119:105 (NLT), "Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path." God's Word, of course, being Jesus. Being love. Love lights the way. And since we are all so desperate for love--desperate enough to look for love in all the wrong places--we really ought to just learn to go to the source. To listen to the Spirit and the bride. To hear the dinner bell ringing and come running, because supper's ready! And, furthermore, bring a friend with you! It's a FEAST. There is plenty for everybody. Don't think God is going to run out of food, or water (or, in this case, LOVE). He IS our sustenance. He is the Lamb and the living water. The bread and the wine. You are what you eat so we need to get on a steady diet of Jesus! A steady diet of love! Fill ourselves to overflowing with what God has already filled us with and let it come out of us, naturally! Take the open invitation to the feast that we've been given... and give it away to any and every body!