"A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for everything is ready now.' "But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, 'I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.' "Another one said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.' "Another one said, ' I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.'" Luke 14:16-20
It is true that God causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good and the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. All the people of the earth are blessed in one way or the other. We as Christians enjoy additionally spiritual blessings that are unavailable to those who fail to call upon the name of the Lord.
Our problem can sometimes be that we enjoy our temporal blessings so much that we forget about He who bestowed them upon us. We prioritize the gift over the giver. We become distracted easily and lose focus on who we are, what we should be doing and how we are to live our lives. In the Old Testament, this was called idolatry. In effect, it is the same thing under the new covenant.
Beloved, blessings are wonderful things. They are made even more so by the fact that most of them are designed to be shared. Whether it is with those who are in need or not, we never experience God's blessings in a vacuum. We should never take them for granted and allow them to cause us to lose sight of our main objective, serving God.
This passage of scripture goes on to reveal that God becomes angry, calls those who are most needy to the banquet and permanently shuts out those who squandered His opportunity.
Where are your priorities?
In Revival,
Lee Lewis
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