Picnic Time! What fun we had this past Sunday enjoying a delicious picnic lunch and fun and games afterward. Isn’t summer fun?
Perhaps you enjoy summer picnics and BBQs as well. It’s fun to spend time with family and friends over a grill with delicious chicken, burgers, or brats (maybe even a few hot dogs thrown in). The crowd often makes the event, don’t you think?
It makes you think twice about who you might invite to your picnic. We invite our family and friends. “What—guests in town? Bring them along!” we might say. But Jesus takes “the more the merrier” mindset to what we might call and extreme.
In Luke 14, Jesus said to his host, “’When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, ‘Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.’”
If you were having lunch with Jesus that day, what would your response have been? Jesus uses the idea of our picnic dinners or BBQs to consider our care and concern for others. An interesting teaching of Jesus is using our resources in order to show love to others, making friends and influencing people with God’s love for eternity.
Hey, it isn’t sinful to have a picnic with your family. But give yourself to the challenge of also sharing what you have with others in order to share God’s love with other people—people who don’t know Jesus yet.
I was reminded this past week as I helped two young men with their unemployment claims. I spent quite a bit of time with them over a few different occasions. Inwardly, I struggled with the time I spent. Yet yesterday, they began asking about spiritual matters. They both were born into Buddhist thought, but just expressed a desire to learn more about Jesus.
I’m embarrassed at how often my attitude becomes selfish in this area—perhaps you can identify with this. Yet this is why the Savior came to us, lived without sinning once, died to endure our punishment, and rise never to die again. Jesus empowers us to face this challenge with renewed selflessness and desire to honor God by the way we use our time, our abilities, and all our resources. God bless you as you live your life of generous love to Him, as you show love to others.
Prayer idea: Thank God for forgiving your selfishness. Praise God for the heavenly feast awaiting you. Ask God for new opportunities to show generosity to others who don’t yet know their Savior.
Have a blessed week!
--Pastor Dan
