Mom, What's on Your List Today?

It's sad when your five year old asks you from the back seat, "Mom, what's on your list today?"  Seriously, I should buy stock in the magnetic notepads that stick on your refrigerator.


I think it's good to make lists and have a plan. But I also think that sometimes we can get so focused to cross everything off of our list, that we don't allow room in our day for God to move freely. We can feel inconvenienced or distracted if our plans get interrupted or our day doesn't line up with our bulleted list. But what if the interruption is a gentle nudge from the King of Kings, an invitation to put down our list and spend time with the One who created time?

Do we forsake Him in order to accomplish our goals for the day?

What if the distraction is a woman, put in our path by the Holy Spirit, in desperate need of a Savior?

Are we so driven by the temporal things of this life that we neglect the things that matter for eternity?


So often throughout our day God is trying to get our attention. How many opportunities have we missed? How many invitations have we declined?


I was reading yesterday and came to the Parable of the Great Banquet (Luke 14:15-23). Although I have read this many times and know the meaning with my intellect, this day it became revelation. It's one thing to "know" God's word, but it is another to have Him "reveal" His word to us.


A summary of the parable is this:


A certain man was preparing a great banquet, a feast, and invited many guests. As he finished his extravagant preparations, he sent his servant out to tell those who had been invited that all was ready for their arrival. But one by one, those invited began to give an excuse as to why they could not attend. A place at the banquet table had been reserved in their name, a great feast and celebration prepared for them, and yet the things of this world prevented them from accepting the offer. As the servant returned and explained to his Master that all who had been invited declined his invitation, the Master instructed the servant to go into the streets and alleys of the town, and the roads and country lanes and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame to fill the empty places at the banquet table.


A table has been set.


A feast has been prepared.


An invitation with your name (and mine) has been sent.

The King of King has requested that you come and dine with Him.

Many have declined His invitation.


How will you respond today?