It’s a pleasure to hear devotional thoughts from Brittney Basalious this week! If you’d like to learn more about her, just stop by our contributors page.
Luke 14: 18-23
And they all with one consent began to make excuses. The first said unto him, I had bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
So that servant came and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
The mighty, the prominent, and the well-named were the ones who were invited to important gatherings in biblical times; who you ate with mattered. The value of a feast during this era was immense, along with all the efforts necessary to make it one to remember. In Luke, we see how God extends the invitation to many, people of career, people to be married, the prominent and composed. As each of them asked to be excused, we see the invitation extended to the maimed, the halt, and the blind.
The master knows the value of the feast, and yet He extends His invitation to the outcast, to the broken, to the impure, to you and me.
One invitee claims that he has just found a wife, and so he cannot make it to the banquet. Another says he just bought oxen and needs to tend to them. Although I don’t have any oxen, I can relate when it comes time to my children. The Holy Spirit so often nudges me to pray, fast, share, and worship Him. I feel the conviction, and I have answered Him, “Later Lord, I have the house to clean, children to bath, dinner to make, etc.”
This eternal banquet is one event we must not miss, not only that but we must also be the utmost prepared for.
This parable is not merely a story of a shared meal, but an eternal celebration of Jesus, and His bride. The invitation is open to the one who doubts her identity in Christ. To the one who has been overseen and shadowed. To the one who hates the life she has created for herself. To the one who has it all together, or at least thinks she does. This invitation is for you, and it is a daily invitation and decision. This table is an open seat for communion with the Heavenly Father.
What are our excuses today? What is keeping us from sitting at His eternal table? Each, and every day, our choice must be without excuse and stand in our rightful spot that The Lord has given to us in precious communion with HIM.
Say yes to His invitation, today, tomorrow, and every day of your future. The great eternal banquet awaits us. Will you be ready?
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