Scripture: Luke 13-14.  

OBSERVATION
(What is God saying here?)

Luke 14:16-20 (NLT)

16 Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. 17 When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ 18 But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’

19 Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 Another said, ‘I now have a wife, so I can’t come.’

APPLICATION
(How Can I apply what God is saying here to my circumstances today?)

I wonder what God must think of us sometimes when we come up with so many excuses as to:

• Why we are not ready to surrender our lives totally over to Him – perhaps because we feel like we have so much to enjoy in this old world before we could make such a commitment;
  
• Why we can’t attend church – perhaps because that is the only morning we have to sleep in, or that is the only day we have for family time, or because there are too many hypocrites at the church (and we don’t want to add one more!!!);
  
• Why we can’t find time to get into God’s Word – because we are too busy, or there are just not enough hours in a day, or…..
  
• Why we don’t witness to our neighbor – because we don’t want to lose their friendship, or because we are afraid we wouldn’t have the right words, or they might ask us a Bible question that we couldn’t answer;
  

Friends, I believe that you will agree with me that these are really excuses to keep us from doing the work of the Lord. Often our excuses revolve around finding time to do things. I had a friend tell me one time when I said this, that there are still the same number of hours and minutes in a day as there has always been, we just have replaced some things with something that we felt had a higher priority. Ouch! That hurts when you think about things in that way, but it is so very true. The next time that we are tempted to say that we just didn’t have the time to do something, try saying that the very thing you are referencing was just not a priority to you! Realistically, this will be the ultimate truth, but what this does is helps us to acknowledge which things we have allowed to be a priority in our ‘awake’ hours. Many times we will be ashamed to repeat to anyone what really is a priority in our day! In Jesus’ story He said the man holding the banquet then basically said, “well, let them be and invite anyone interested”. Wouldn’t it be awful for us to hear Jesus say “well, I just wouldn’t be with ??? today, because he was not interested enough to find time for me today”? Oh my, I would be crushed to hear those words from my Lord, and I believe that you would be too. Then let’s put the excuses aside and make God a priority in our day and in our lives. He deserves it!

PRAYER
(With God’s help, what am I going to do differently today because He said it?)

Father, this has really spoken to me today, because I can find time for just about everything in my day, and often I make those things a priority over time I need to spend with You, or doing Your will for my life. There were no excuses when You gave Your only Son to die on Calvary so that I may have a means to enter Your heaven. I am ashamed of the excuses that I make at times, please forgive me and teach me Your ways, Your priorities for my life, Your direction for my life, and teach me to be more like You each and every day. In Jesus name I pray, Amen!

 

àWords underlined may be a hyperlink to a song that God laid on my heart while sharing this devotional this morning. Click it and be blessed by the song, like I was when I listened to it! …… I would be overjoyed to have the opportunity to pray with you about a need in your life that may, or may not have been highlighted by this Nugget today. Why not drop me a note and tell me about it? You may email me at:
nuggetsfromgodsword@yahoo.com.
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