Skip to main content

An Invitation, Not a Challenge


This post is taken from the booklet An Invitation, Not a Challenge, by Everett Wilson, brother of Jim Wilson.

An Invitation, Not a Challenge

The gospel comes as a gift, not as a bill for payment. C. H. Spurgeon told a parable about that: A minister called on a poor woman in order to bring her a gift of money. He knocked and knocked, decided no one was home, and went on his way. Later he saw the woman at church and told her how he had called and not found her at home. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "When was that?" When he told her, she said, "Was that you? I was in the house but I didn't come to the door because I thought it was the man coming for the rent, and I didn't have it to give him!"

Ministers, youth leaders, and Sunday School teachers all know what that is like. Week by week we come offering the gift of the gospel, the gift of eternal life, but many do not listen because they’re afraid we have come to take rather than to give. In their minds we've come to collect the rent, not to help pay it!

The gospel comes as an invitation, not as a challenge. In The Lord of the Rings, there's a scene in which the wizard Gandalf and his companions come upon a sealed door in the side of a mountain. They must enter this door to continue on their quest. But there is no door handle of any kind just a sign in a strange language. Gandalf translates the sign as saying, "Speak friend and enter." Fine, but they don't know the password! So the wizard tries to blast it open with his magic spells, none of which open the door. So he sits down for a moment and ponders. Then a light comes into his eye. He laughs, stands up, walks to the door and says one simple word. The door opens. Since the word is in a language the others do not know, they ask how he figured out the password. "I didn't have to figure out anything," he answered. "I mistranslated the sign. It's not a challenge to keep enemies out but an invitation for friends to enter. It says "Say 'friend' and enter." All we had to do was identify ourselves as friends."

The good news of the Bible is as simple and straightforward as these two stories illustrate. It is neither a demand for payment that must be paid, nor a riddle to be solved, nor a challenge to be met. Instead, it is a gift to be received and an invitation to be answered. Paul's says it Romans 3 about as plain as can be:

Eternal life is a gift from God. There is nothing we can do to earn it. We have nothing to brag about when we receive it.

To be continued on Wednesday.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Getting Old

This is a post for those who are getting old or considering themselves old, from 65-100. Right now, I am 91.* I will be 92 in October. I have my own house, but I cannot live in it alone because of my physical inability to move around. One of my sons lives with me. All of us will have to make some adjustments. That includes money, relatives, your own ability and willpower to stay independent, etc. My advice is if physically and financially you can live independently, you should certainly do that. If you do, you will still need to have visits from your family frequently. You need your family. Even if you don’t need them to take care of you, you need them for the fellowship. The more fellowship you have, the longer you’ll live. If you can stay independent do it, but only if friends and relatives can see you often. In my case, I can’t walk, and I can’t do much physically. So, whether I like it or not, someone else has to get me up, get me showered, and get me dressed. I am blessed to have
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Is Obedience So Hard?

There are several reasons why obedience seems hard. I will comment on some of them and then speak positively on how obedience is easy. We think: 1) Obedience is an infringement on freedom. Since we are free in Christ, and obedience is somehow contrary to that freedom, we conclude that obedience is not good. Yet we know it is good. Thus, we become confused about obedience and are not single-minded. 2) Obedience is works. We who have been justified by grace through faith are opposed to works; therefore, we are opposed to obedience. 3) We have tried to obey and have failed—frequently. Therefore, the only solution is to disobey and later confess to receive forgiveness. It is easier to be forgiven by grace than to obey by effort. 4) We confuse obedience to men with obedience to God. Although these are sometimes one and the same (see Romans 13, 1 Peter 2-3, Ephesians 5-6, Colossians 3, and Titus 2), sometimes they are not the same (see Colossians 2:20-23, Mark 7, 1 Timothy 4:1-5, a
5 comments
Read more

Constant Victory

I came across the following poem (prayer) and devotional in Amy Carmichael's book Edges of His Ways :   Before the winds that blow do cease, Teach me to dwell within thy calm; Before the pain has passed in peace, Give me, my God, to sing a psalm. Let me not lose the chance to prove The fulness of enabling love. O Love of God, do this for me; Maintain a constant victory.   Before I leave the desert land For meadows of immortal flowers, Lead me where streams at thy command Flow by the borders of the hours, That when the thirsty come I may Show them the fountains in the way. O love of God, do this for me; Maintain a constant victory.   "This prayer was written for the ill, and for the tired. It is so easy to fail when not feeling fit. As I thought of them, I also remembered those who, thank God, are not ill and yet can be hard-pressed. Sometimes in the midst of the rush of things, it seems impossible to be victorious, always to be peaceful,
Post a Comment
Read more