Wouldn’t that leave you cold as... - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2024

(He) sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, Come, for all things are now ready. But they all with one accord began to make excuses. …Then the master of the house, being angry …
Luke 14:17–18, 21

Wouldn’t that leave you cold as well? You invite your best friends to dinner, put a lot of effort into it – and when you finally have everything prepared, one after the other cancels shortly beforehand ...

Probably such insulting behaviour happens only rarely. But the Bible tells of a man who had exactly the same thing happen to him. When everything is ready, none of those invited wants to come! And what “important” reasons they give! One of them has to inspect his new field, the next one wants to try out his ox teams, and the third one got married. They are obviously not interested in the feast, and the host is not important to them. We can well understand the host getting angry about this. But he doesn’t just skip the dinner because of it. No, he looks for new guests, because there were others who did not despise the friendly host and were happy about the invitation: poor, crippled, lame, blind ...

God has also prepared a feast of joy and invites everyone to it. He wants to give forgiveness of sins and inner peace to all people. And one day they will share in the glory of heaven. But the indifferent, the self-satisfied and the self-righteous, who despise God’s invitation – for them there is no joy. On the other hand, the stranded, homeless and broken, who confess their guilt to Him – they experience His grace and receive great joy!

There is a rest for all far and near:
In the wounds of the Lamb of God, on the cross of Calvary.
Eleonore Princess Reuss (1835–1903)

Today’s reading: Deuteronomy 28:15-32 · Galatians 4:21-31