The Wedding Banquet Series

God has many good thoughts for us (Jeremiah 29:11). This means God thinks about doing good things to us and giving us good things. His good thoughts for us are evident in the things He has prepared for us. In the Word of God, we discover the good things God wants to give us; we get enlightened as to the good things God has prepared for us. For example, Psalm 23:5 tells us that He has prepared a table for us in the presence of our enemies. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that there are good works God has prepared in advance for us to do. And in John 14:2, Jesus said He has gone to prepare a place for us in Heaven. But it’s one thing for God to prepare something good for us, it is another thing for us to actually receive the good things God has taken time to prepare and package for us. If we don’t prepare, we can miss out on some of the blessings God has prepared for us.

I am sure that on a monthly basis we all receive several invitations. We get invitations to weddings, birthdays, funeral services, baby showers, book launches, Church services and programs. Now let me ask a question. Is it every invitation you receive that you attend the event? The answer is No! We don’t attend every event we are invited to just because someone sent us an invitation. We attend only those events we make plans for, we attend only those events we prepare to attend. The preparation would include things like noting the date of the event in your diary, picking out what to wear for the event, putting in place transport arrangements to get to the event.

In Luke 14:15-24, Jesus told a parable of people God prepared a banquet for but they missed out on it simply because they were not prepared, they made no preparations whatsoever to attend this event. From the parable of banquet, we can highlight certain traits of people who are not prepared for the Lord:

1. Their priorities are not in order:

We see from Luke 14:18-20 that God wasn’t first in the lives of those that did not attend the banquet. Their business, work, marriage and family life where more important to them than being with God; those things took precedence over God. God wasn’t ranked as number one on their “To Do” list. Anything you don’t have time for is not a priority to you. Those that were invited to wedding banquet didn’t have time for the banquet; they didn’t have time for God because God wasn’t a priority to them. In Psalm 73:25, David said that there was no one he desired like God, but for many people today, they desire other things more than they desire God. Until we get to that point where God is more important to us than anyone and anything, until we get to that point where we put God first before anyone and anything, we can’t really be a people prepared for the Lord. If we are really going to be sincere with ourselves and say things as they really are, many of us haven’t really gotten to this point. Other things and people take priority over God’s presence, God’s needs, God’s Word, God’s will and God’s work. If we have to make a choice between God and a business meeting, we would without blinking an eye pick the business meeting over God. If we have to make a choice between waking up at night to intercede for our land and having a cosy night rest, we would gladly go for the cosy night rest over God’s work and need. If we have to make a choice between standing for righteousness and fitting into the crowd, we would choose being accepted by the crowd over standing alone for righteousness.

Paul got to that point in his walk with God where he realised that nothing is as important as knowing Christ, being with Him and living for Him (Philippians 3:8-10). Like Paul we can all get to this level if we truly realise that we are empty without Christ, if we understand that our time here on earth is limited and that the secret to not wasting our time and life, the way to live and not have regrets at the end of the day, is to put Jesus first in our daily routine, in our weekly agenda, and in all that we do.

Can you say this prayer if you desire a change in how you have been living; if you want God to become a priority in your life:

PRAYER

Father, forgive me for putting other things and people before you; forgive me for making other things and people more important than you. Please help me from today to stop relegating you to the background in my daily life, come and take the first place, come and occupy the center stage in my life. Help me to seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness.