You’re Invited!

We weren’t new to the neighborhood.  In fact, we’d lived there about 10 years.  We knew pretty much everyone on our block, including the couple who had moved in down the way and across the street.  They had hosted a backyard neighborhood get-together in the past, and we were all on good terms…or so we thought.

One Sunday afternoon as my wife and I went out for a walk, we heard laughter in the distance.  There was definitely something going on.  Strolling down the sidewalk we saw into the neighbors’ backyard – there was a barbeque in full swing, with everyone on our block…except us.  As far as we knew, we hadn’t made anyone mad.  We always kept our yard and house in good shape.  We’d waved and talked and kept up good rapport with everyone, but one thing was sure on that Sunday afternoon…  We hadn’t been invited.

Invitations come in all shapes and sizes.  Some are printed on linen paper and embossed.  Others are scribbled on notebook paper.  They may be emailed, texted, given over the phone, or extended in-person.

Maybe that invitation will mean that you get BBQ, or cake…  Or you get to hold his hand at recess…  Or that you’re on the team, or you have a friend to sit with at lunch or you’re connected online.  No matter how it looks, being invited means that we are wanted and included.  Someone wants to know us.

And that’s a big deal.

Receiving an invitation feels great because it’s a chance for relationship.  It reveals the desire of the one extending the invitation to include you – they chose to invite you.  And the same is true as we think about our spiritual lives.

God has chosen you.  He loves you and has invited you into relationship with Him.  He wants to know you.

John 15:16a “You did not choose me, but I chose you…”

1 Corinthians 8:3 “…Whoever loves God is known by God.”

Ephesians 1:4 “He chose us in him before the creation of the world…”

Scripture is full of the evidence: You’re invited…by God!

But it’s a funny thing about invitations…  They demand a response.  They can be accepted or ignored.  If I don’t want to go or it’s inconvenient or something better comes up, I can refuse the invitation and do my own thing.  And that’s true with God too.  He wants you to experience what it’s like to be known by your Creator, but you have to accept His invitation.

When you do, you can begin to experience the fullness of His love and grace, and every day there’s more – “His mercies are new every morning (Lam. 3:23)!”  Every day you wake up to an invitation to experience new depths of knowing God and being known by Him.  You’ve been loved…chosen…invited…by God!

I didn’t like how it felt on that Sunday evening in our neighborhood, when we weren’t invited.  Thankfully, you never have to experience that with God.  He wants to know you, and to be known.  Accept His invitation.

Being invited is a big deal.