Today’s Devotion
Topic: Watch Your Garments!
Text: Matthew 22:9-11
So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. Amen
Our Lord Jesus likens heaven to a man who sets a banquet and invites special people. The special guests turn the offer down so the man has to fill the room with ordinary people, people who didn’t merit it in the first place.
Today’s ordinary guests are all of us. For the purpose of simplicity, let us take the Body of Christ or House of God as the banquet hall. All manner of persons identify with christianity now. Some of us however are not allowing the Word of God to change the dirty clothes we wore before the invitation came.
Yes, it’s true that the Lord shows no partiality and that, in all nations, He welcomes those who call unto His name (Acts 10: 34). But what happens after we’ve tasted of the salvation that our Lord Jesus Christ offers? What happens after we who merited nothing, become the Children of God? Do we still keep on with our former ways because grace is available for us ?
Scripture says, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” (Titus 2:11-14).
The fact still remains that once we have been given this unmerited access to God’s gift of salvation, we need to conform to the standards of our God; to live lives worthy our of calling.
What manner of lives are we living then? What kind of appearance are we going to present before the King? Let’s think about these Beloved. For a time is coming when the King will show up in the hall to see those who properly dressed and those who are not. He will come in to see those who have purged their minds minds and heart, those who have their minds fully set on righteousness and holy living and those who are just taking the grace of God for granted and living lives anyhow. Which of these categories will you fall into?
Be on your guard Beloved, for it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God (1 Peter 4:7). Let us assess ourselves wholeheartedly and ask God to cleanse our dirty and stained garments so we don’t miss the chance to dine with Him at the banquet.
Begin to pray therefore: First for cleansing and then for the grace to live in obedience to the Word. Wash your garment in the blood of the Lamb and remember to “do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. (Phil 2:14-16a)
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