Don't Beg Off

 

I’m Duane Matz and welcome to Today’s Living Word.

 

Heb 12:25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks.

The Him who speaks, is of course God, and the word “refuse” here is very interesting. It means to “beg off.” We’ve all done it haven’t we? We receive an invitation to a party, or a wedding, or some other ceremony and we beg off. We come up with an excuse for rejecting the invitation because we have something else to do.

 

Sometimes we have very legitimate excuses to beg off of an invitation in our earthly business, but we have no excuse to beg off God’s invitation to join Him for His heavenly business.

 

This warning in Hebrews is given to those Jews who were considering leaving the faith because of the persecution Christians were facing, but God says, don’t beg off of the invitation you have received to be at the heavenly banquet due to your faith in Jesus!

 

But it is a warning for you and I as well. Don’t beg off on God’s gracious invitation to salvation and eternal life!  Jesus told a parable about “begging off” in Lu 14:16-23, “Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, 17 "and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.' 18 "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.' 19 "And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.' 20 "Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.' 21 "So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.' 22 "And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.' 23 "Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

 

You have heard it said, “don’t put off for tomorrow, what you can do today.” Good advice especially as it concerns responding to God’s invitation to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus tells still another parable in  Lu 12:16-21, “ Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17 "And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?'

 18 "So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19 'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry."' 20 "But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' 21 "So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

 

Don’t beg off! Be rich toward God, by being humble in spirit, admit you are a sinner in need of a Savior and receive His offer of forgiveness and eternal life!

Joh 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

 

I’m Duane Matz and that’s Today’s Living Word