The Invitation
Luke 14:24, “For I tell you, none of those who were invited shall taste of my dinner.”
In chapter 1 of the book of Esther King Xerxes (Ahasuerus) called his queen, Queen Vashti, before him because he was giving a banquet, and the king wanted to show her off for all his company. Queen Vashti refused to come because she was also throwing her own party, and thought, maybe, that it would be rude to leave her guests, or maybe she just did it out of spite. You never can tell with women, HAHA.
Anyway, when she refused to come to the king; he became angry, and asked his counselor’s for advice on what to do. One of his advisors’ told him that he should issue a decree that Vashti should never again be allowed to come in the presence of the king, and that her royal title should be stripped from her and given to another.
As I was reading this the Lord brought to my mind the parable of Jesus. In Luke 14 Jesus told the parable of how a certain man prepared a dinner, and invited all of his friends to the dinner; but all of his friends had “lame” excuses about why they could not come. The man then told his servants to send out an open invitation so that his table could be full of guests. Eventually, the man told his servants to go out to the “highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in”.(v.23) The man was so eager for his table to be full, and his food to be eaten that he wanted to invite the lowest of the low. The scum who had nasty clothes and unkempt hair and dirty fingernails he wanted them to come to him. That’s a perfect picture of how God wants us all to come to him; no matter how dirty or nasty we may be on our own he wants us to come to Him and share in the glories that He prepared for us.(Romans 9:23)
The King has prepared a feast, and we are all invited to come and eat the food that He has prepared. We have all been invited, but we will not all go maybe because we are too self involved, or maybe because we are not interested in eating His food. Whatever, the reason may be the invitation has been made by God, and He only awaits our response. Unlike the story of Vashti, and the man in parable God will never close His invitation to us, but will always be seated at His throne ready to bring us in so we can taste His food.
Father, I thank you for sending me the invitation to your banquet, and I ask that You help see my “lame” excuses for what they are; so that I might come and enjoy Your glories. In Jesus’ name, Amen
Yes, You Can Ministry 