You are invited......how do you RSVP?

You are cordially invited to attend the following:

A breakfast, a lunch, a dinner, a show, a movie, a ballgame, a wedding, a religious ceremony (bar/bat mitzvahs, communion, confirmation, baptism), a walk, a run, a swim, a bike ride, a photo shoot, a literary reading, a concert, a shower (bridal or baby), a picnic, a manned space flight, a cruise, a sight-seeing tour anywhere in the world, and the list goes on and on.

Your response to any of the above is yes and you look forward to attending (otherwise why did you respond yes?)  Obligation and duty were not part of the invitation!  The invitation though was for one, so you can’t bank your response on who else is going, you must decide for yourselves.  How do you RSVP?

Do you at this point start regretting your decision to go?  Do you the day of the event continue with the zeal of anticipation or do you start looking back at who or what you are leaving behind?

Think about this for a minute before proceeding, because your answer has an impact on your future and I only just understood this, this morning.

In the Bible, when the end of the world is apparent, and Jesus is coming, we are to look forward and go, stopping for nothing or no one, not looking back.  This equates to our invitation for one.  What is the harm in looking back you might wonder…..I did.  The harm as I understand it, is that our flesh is weak and in looking back we will see our spouse, our children, our families, our friends, our pets, our jobs, our homes etc and in our minds somehow this will translate to wait a minute, let me (get, do, take)……  That, is taking a position of telling God to wait, in essence we are more important than His calling.  That, is the answer He will not allow.

What does Fear God mean to you?  God is a loving being, so I’m not afraid of Him as much as I am in awe of Him and that is what the definition is supposed to mean, it is one of high respect.  But I am afraid of looking back.  I have placed such value in the things of this world because they are tangible and slowly my grasp is being pried away. We cannot take anything with us, nor can we accept the invitation for someone else.  It is a difficult decision to make, but only if you place more importance on the people or things of this life and it is extremely difficult to not regret leaving loved ones, but in our regret, we have ruined God’s spirit of joy.

How can a joyful situation become marred you might wonder?  Easy, when you throw in conditions that should never have been placed there in the first place!  Envision throwing a party, and you have invited everyone you’d like to come but someone says to you, I can’t come unless I can bring so and so.  Or, I can’t come if you are serving such and such.  These things deflate the sense of joy, because it is no longer you the party thrower “controlling” your own party.  That is the same thing we do when we tell God, wait a minute, I need to look back and face my regrets, instead of saying, ok God, I’m there, no ifs, ands or buts.  It isn’t like we haven’t been given ample warning to get ourselves to the limo line.  Now’s the time to be speaking to those we love, to come join us!  God in His infinite wisdom will send the exact number of limos needed and not one more.

So you are cordially invited to attend God’s gala.  The time and date is of His choosing.  The place is heaven.  You have a split second to choose (unless you start making your choice now).  The function will be like nothing you imagined.  How do you RSVP?

Looking up!

Barb