But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”
Luke 14:16-24
Jesus invites everyone to come to Him. Tragically, there are many who are so caught up in the insane merry go round of life that their response is, “Sorry God, I’ve got other things going on at home, work, church. Maybe tomorrow.”
It’s easy to get caught up in doing-doing-doing… smartphones, answering texts, checking emails. Then one day you wake up to realize that your relationship with the Lord has drifted and you’re a mile apart.
As I can tell you from people we counsel, there are many Christians who have next to no prayer life. Although they go to church on Sunday, there isn’t much going on between them and the Lord during the week.
Some of that can be attributed to our culture of the busy, even in the church.
We exalt people who are the ones who are doing everything, except that, God doesn’t need any of us in ministry. He wants our hearts first. He’s quite capable of saving the world without us—he wants to be our first love.
It comes down to priorities. If we value our relationship with the Lord, we’ll put Him first and spend time with Him often. We’ll chase Him and seek Him like we talked about in day 1.
Some of us may need to get on our knees and say “Lord, God, I’ve been too busy. I haven’t made you my first priority and have allowed other things to run my life. Please help me to rebuild my life around your priorities, starting with a passionate prayer life.”
Ask the Lord if you need to realign your priorities. If you’re doing okay in this area and you know someone who is, pray for them. Ask God to help His people to slow down so they can hear His voice.
Watch the video above for more, or click here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ4F-kFH-PQ
