Invitation

     Have you ever received an invitation and was so impressed you thought, "Wow! Why me?"
     In The Message version (Luke 14:10-11) it reads like this: "The next time you put on a dinner, don't just invite your friends and family and rich neighbors, the kind of people who will return the favor.  Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks.  You'll be - and experience - a blessing.  They won't be able to return the favor, but the favor will be returned - oh, how it will be returned - at the resurrection of God's people."
     God's invitation to heaven is to everyone, the poor, rich, and the misfits.  You see, God wants His house filled.  In verse 23 the Master says, "I want my house full."
     Everyone's invitation has been issued, and it came with a price.  "Wow! Why me?"  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
     This is an invitation I have been blessed and honored to receive.  I accepted it when I was ten years old.  I, an undeserving misfit, am looking forward to the great banquet and praising the Guest of Honor.