FOOLISH EXCUSES

and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.' 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.'  (Luke 14:17-18 NKJV)

In this parable our Lord seems to show that the temptations of life lie in three directions.

1)  Our Property. So long as we are pilgrims and strangers, with no settled piece of land to call our own, with no stake in the country, with no accumulation in the bank, we reach out our hands towards the city that hath foundations (Hebrews 11:10-13). But when we buy a field, we are often preoccupied and engrossed with it, and all it stands for. We must lay it out for building, or plan the crops we are to raise; we think how we can sell it again at some profit; we hope the railroad company may need it. And so, though we may be outwardly thorough in our religious observance, yet our affections are not set on things above (Colossians 3:1-4).

2)  Our Activities. There is nothing wrong in having a team of oxen; on the contrary, it is a great and noble thing to plow up the virgin soil, and to make corn grow for the sustenance of the toiling millions of our fellow men. The oxen of Christ's time have their counterpart in the machinery of to-day, the tractor and the automobile. All these things marvelously preoccupy our minds. Men become so deeply interested, that they have no time or energy for anything else. They may not give an absolute no to the invitations of Christ, but their sophisticated and polite excuse covers a practical refusal, "I pray Thee have me excused."

3)  Our Home and Family Life. Our Lord said no word against these. Did He not honor a wedding feast with His presence and first miracle? But He knows that we are apt to set aside the claims of the spiritual life when we are surrounded by all the joys and comforts of material happiness.

The excuses which were offered were very shallow, the land would not have disappeared if its owner had postponed visiting it for a day; the cattle had surely been proved already, or they would not have been bought. As to the newly married wife, there was no reason why she should not have accompanied her husband, there was plenty of room for both. Let us respond to the love which Christ offers to us, less we be refused by Him at the last.  See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, (Hebrews 12:25 NKJV).

PRAYER

We beseech You, our most gracious God, to preserve us from the cares of this life, lest we be too much entangled with them.  In Christ’s name I pray, AMEN.

God's Daily Promise

Promise #83:
I will cause all things to ultimately work for your good. 

Romans 8:28 (WEB)
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God,
to those who are called according to his purpose.