Your Presence Has Been Requested…You Were Chosen For It!
Matthew 22:1-14 (Amplified Bible)
1AND AGAIN Jesus spoke to them in parables (comparisons, stories used to illustrate and explain), saying, 2The kingdom of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son 3And sent his servants to summon those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they refused to come. 4Again he sent other servants, saying, Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have prepared my banquet; my bullocks and my fat calves are killed, and everything is prepared; come to the wedding feast. 5But they were not concerned and paid no attention [they ignored and made light of the summons, treating it with contempt] and they went away--one to his farm, another to his business, 6While the others seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and put them to death. 7[Hearing this] the king was infuriated; and he sent his soldiers and put those murderers to death and burned their city. 8Then he said to his servants, The wedding [feast] is prepared, but those invited were not worthy. 9So go to the thoroughfares where they leave the city [where the main roads and those from the country end] and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find. 10And those servants went out on the crossroads and got together as many as they found, both bad and good, so [the room in which] the wedding feast [was held] was filled with guests. 11But when the king came in to view the guests, he looked intently at a man there who had on no wedding garment. 12And he said, Friend, how did you come in here without putting on the [appropriate] wedding garment? And he was speechless (muzzled, gagged). 13Then the king said to the attendants, Tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the darkness outside; there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. 14For many are called (invited and summoned), but few are chosen.
I have been blessed over the years to have children who have adopted me as a surrogate parent. It was not because I went out seeking them; I was just present when they needed a parent, a guide or someone that possessed an element of maturity and wisdom that they may have lacked. These beautiful young woman and young men are a joy, a treasure and they have all added to my life in their own way. As I stated I by no means went looking for them, I was doing me, and doing what God had asked of me at different times in my life. For some of these young ladies and young men they had parents that they wanted to be close with, but because of some issues, agenda, misgivings, generational issues that relationship never manifested in the way the young person desired, although I always encourage reconciliation and have in many ways tried to facilitate it, but the choice still belongs to the individuals directly involved in the parent/child relationship. But at some point I was invited to be a surrogate, a person that becomes “their person,” as my God daughter use to refer to me as.
Many of us have been invited to be a part of what God is doing but we have declined. We were the initial person invited, but yet for whatever reason we had an excuse, and issue or an infirmity that prevented us from taking our rightful place in the work or processing of the Kingdom. Some of us thought that God would beg us and plead with us, and chase after us, to get us to obey or become a part of His divine movement and advances in the Kingdom. But we forget that God is the King and we are His subjects, His people, not the other ways around. That His invitation is the ultimate honor and privilege, but we do not see the importance of the Master calling and the chosen God given role He has given us, instead we place our own desires, aspirations and needs above the Creators; above the things that we are created to do. But then when we come to our senses and realize that we are blessed to be asked, then we come running, but then we often find that God has allowed someone else the privilege of our spot and we want to get angry with God, because our spot is taken and someone else is being used where we now realize we should be. Because we were invited, and we did not yield, another is requested so that place is not left unattended to and the one that yields is chosen. Sometimes we think being chosen means we are the first draft pick, but many times, it is when we are feeling like we are by the way side and God picks us up and makes us His own and out of the gratitude of us being saved, we obey quickly and do what we are asked, it is then the title chosen is given to us.
It is very true that many have been called into the kingdom, but even in the Kingdom there are a more peculiar people that are set apart, for greater works. These are the people that do not go looking for position but are requested to it and become it because their only desire is to be where the King is and to do His will. These people do not have an agenda, but to serve God and to do His will. These people are chosen because God has called others and they have refused His invitation. Are you one that has been called but has not been chosen, or are you one that had been chosen and requested because the Master knew that you would follow even when others did not?
No comments:
Post a Comment