Invitations come in all
shapes and sizes. We get verbal ones inviting us out to coffee. We receive
colorful ones inviting us to parties. At least my kids get them. Sometimes we get
these wonderfully designed, small pieces of what I can only describe as artwork
inviting us to major events. Usually we know what to do with the invitations we
receive. In my home we have a process. The first level goes something like
this. “Do we know the people inviting us and do we want to go?” This usually
clears out the majority of the colorful ones. Bulk classroom invitations to
birthday parties usually don’t make the cut in our house. The next level
usually involves checking the calendar. “Do we have the ability to go?” If the
date is free, or if an activity can be rearranged, then the invitation gets to
the final and most serious level. “Do we have the will to go?” In some ways,
this final screen resembles the first but at a deeper level. For us, we have to
be willing to do whatever it takes to say “yes” to an invitation if we are
going to go. We don’t want to do things halfway. If we are invited to a formal
shindig then we want to show up dressed to the nines. If I am not about to put
on a monkey suit, then I probably am not going to show up. It doesn’t pass the
“willing” test.
For most invitations my
little screen works just fine. Then I come to the person of Jesus, and to be
honest, my screen falls apart. Jesus comes to us as the living invitation of
God, the invitation to be in relationship with him, at home with him. This
living invitation, Jesus, intrigues me. He gets an automatic buy to level two
in my book. It is at this point that things begin to fall apart for me. When I
begin to ask if I have the ability to respond, my calendar becomes my worst
enemy. I am plenty free on Tuesdays after 7 pm and on Thursday for breakfast.
Oh, and Saturday afternoons could work with enough advance notice. The trouble
is that Jesus’ invitation extends beyond the whitespace on my calendar. He
invites me to give him all of my time and not just the slots I have free. I
struggle. How am I supposed to respond to Jesus when I have to take my daughter
to Irish dance lessons every Monday? What about my standing meetings, lunches,
and other commitments? How is that supposed to work? As you can see, I often
get stuck at level two. That’s OK, because just thinking about trying to
resolve the issues surrounding level three drives me crazy. If I clear out my
calendar and say I am available, then I realize that Jesus wants not just my
time but all of me. He wants me to go all in. That is just about the most
impossible thing I have ever considered. There are parts of me that I am not
about to let anyone have. So I wonder, can I really respond to Jesus?
Can anyone respond to Jesus?
I suppose if the answer were that responding to Jesus was a one-time event,
then the answer would be a resounding “no.” However, responding to Jesus seems
to be more of a series of responses, a thousand tiny yeses to Jesus every
single day. It all kicks off with a “yes” to Jesus, a desire to be open to him
at all. That is the first invitation, but the second and third invitations come
and I have the ability to respond in little and big ways. I can say “yes” to
Jesus’ invitation to be present as I play with my kids. I can say “yes” to
Jesus guiding me as I engage in my meetings. I can say “yes” to Jesus’
invitation to yield to my wife or my neighbor. I can say “yes” to Jesus’ desire
to clothe, to strengthen, to guide, to forgive. I can say “yes” to the thousand
tiny invitations that come. Over time those little yeses grow to become a
resounding “YES” to Jesus, a “YES” that changes my life forever.
A fellow traveler,
Blake Shipp
Spiritual Formation Pastor
So what is my next step?
I encourage you to consider
the following as a way of handing off faith to your family. . .
Talk about saying “yes” to
Jesus: Children are extremely open to responding to Jesus. They just have to be
taught that Jesus is calling for a response. After family Bible readings, or
after a Sunday School lesson consider discussing with your children how they
hear Jesus calling them to respond. To what is he calling them to say “yes?” Allow
the addition of this small, simple discussion to tenderize your child’s heart
to Jesus as the living invitation of God.
I encourage you to consider
the following as a way of nurturing your own faith. . .
Offer little “Yes’s”:
Responding to the living invitation of God is not a single decision but the accumulation
of a thousand tiny yeses to God. This week, consider saying “Yes” to Jesus by
pausing before moving from one task to another. In the space between one task
and another, offer the following prayer as a way of responding to Jesus.
“Jesus, I say ‘yes’ to you in what I am about to do. I love you, living
invitation of God.”
No comments:
Post a Comment