DEVOTION: Wisdom's Invitation
Read all of Proverbs 9, and Luke 14:16-24.
When you receive an invitation in the mail, your reaction to that invitation could be different depending on who you are and the nature of the invitation. If you are an extrovert, you may view all invitations with delight and struggle to choose between them. However, if you are an introvert, some invitations may bring joy, while others carry more of a sense of obligation that threatens to infringe on your quiet time at home. The two invitations we see in chapter 9 could not be more different from one another. One is an invitation to eat and drink the fruits of Wisdom. The other is a summons to sip the stolen secrecies of Folly. One invitation leads to insight and life; the other leads the stubbornly ignorant to the grave. Both calls find their way to the simple, but which invitation will they choose?
We see in Jesus’ parable in Luke 14:16-24 a similar invitation. A man prepared a great banquet. Although he invited many, few came. This parable of Jesus echoes the wisdom of Proverbs 9. What would be the outcome for those who refused the invitation? “For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet” (verse 24). To refuse Jesus’ invitation is to refuse life: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36).
Consider
- Have you accepted the invitation of wisdom, which is the invitation to put your faith in Christ alone for salvation?
- Are you obeying the Master’s instructions to invite others: “Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled”?
Prayer
- Pray for those who have refused the call of Christ for salvation, that God may yet turn their hearts to Him in faith.
- Pray for opportunities for us, as a church and individually, to bring the hope of Christ to all the neighborhoods surrounding us, including the least - “the poor and crippled and blind and lame.” May they answer wisdom’s call.