No More Excuses
“If you invite the poor to your banquet, along with the outcast, the handicapped, and the blind—those who could never repay you the favor, then you will experience a great blessing in this life, and at the resurrection of the godly you will receive a full reward.”
When they heard this, one of the dinner guests said to Jesus, “Someday God will have a kingdom feast, and how happy and privileged will be the ones who get to share in that joy!” Luke 14
In the earlier verse, Jesus advises us to not just invite our friends and relatives to our gatherings but invite everyone. We are incredibly thankful for the revelation Abba has given us at TWP concerning what the bride is to look like on the earth. We are not called to gather on Sundays with all the people who look like us and think the same under a religious umbrella. Jesus was about the Kingdom, not a denomination.
In this passage of Luke, we can see Jesus telling us the feast of the Kingdom is available now. Like most people today, they believed that they were waiting on Abba’s kingdom to come but Jesus is telling us the invitation has already been extended to enjoy the feast of the Kingdom now. We can miss the feast laid before us if we believe that “one day” we will enjoy heaven. Heaven is waiting on the beloved sons and daughters to reveal it to the earth.
“Jesus replied with this parable: “A man invited many to join him in a great feast. When the day for the feast arrived, the host instructed his servant to notify all the invited guests and tell them, ‘Come, for everything is now ready for you!’ But one by one they all made excuses. One said, ‘I can’t come. I just bought some property and I have to go and look it over.’ Another said, ‘Please accept my regrets, for I just purchased five teams of oxen and I need to make sure they can pull the plow.’ Another one said, ‘I can’t come because I just got married.’ “The servant reported back to the host and told him of all their excuses.”
It’s important to not read this and immediately think this is about making excuses of not coming to a building with like-minded people. Although, it is very important to gather with Kingdom family to honor and worship Jesus as one body. Psalm 133:1 says, “how truly wonderful and delightful it is to see brothers and sisters living together in unity.” In Hebrews 10, “and let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another.” Coming together to enjoy the feast He has prepared for us in very important. This can also apply to those areas we find excuses because we have disqualified ourselves. Sometimes this disqualification comes because of our actions but it also comes by way of how we think about ourselves. Have you ever had a pity party? We all have. These pity parties cause us to lose sight our who we are and whose we are. As a beloved son and beloved daughter, we are invited to feast with our King on a daily basis. He prepares a table for you in the presence of your enemies to feast with Him. Our enemies are those lies that try to creep in to discourage us and dismantle what Abba has designed us for. Let’s not continue to make excuses of why we are not qualified to sit at the table of the King and feast. It is time to come alive in His presence and bring others along the journey with us.
