The Daily Fountain Daily Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 1 April 2020 – TOPIC: COSTLY EXCUSES

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DATE: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 01, 2020
TOPIC: COSTLY EXCUSES
READ: LUKE 14:15-24 (NKJV)

15. Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed [is] he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
16. Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many,
17. “and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’
18. “But they all with one [accord] began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’
19. “And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’
20. “Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’
21. “So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here [the] poor and [the] maimed and [the] lame and [the] blind.’
22. “And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’
23. “Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel [them] to come in, that my house may be filled.
24. ‘For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ “

THE MESSAGE:

A Divine invitation for a great banquet has been freely given by the great King – the Lord God Almighty. It is a free invitation, but many are giving flimsy excuses why they should not honour this invitation. In our text, there were three major excuses:

(i) Business: The man had bought a piece of land and needed to take care of it but it is very costly to allow business or any other life engagement to become a barrier to our relationship with God. Jesus said “What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul”(Matthew 16:26). Our business, profession, and other affairs must not be allowed to consume our life, such that we become deaf to God’s invitation. God must be the centre of our life, the one around whom everything else revolves.

(ii) The second excuse is that he was too wrapped in new purchases and wanted to try them out – purchase of houses, cars, computers, phones, etc.

(iii) The third excuse is marriage and family life. Issues and problems arising from marriage and family life have kept many away from God. This should not be so.

Watch out for excuses that keep you away from God.

PRAYER: Oh Lord, help me overcome all excuses that hinder my service to You.