Devotionals

Making God's Guest List

by Cheryl Weber
03/06/19
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What “in” group do you want to be part of?  Maybe it’s the “dream team” working directly with the CEO of your company or an exclusive club in your neighborhood. In high school and college did you covet an invitation to parties thrown by the most popular students or work toward membership in a certain frat group?

We all like to belong, to feel special, important, successful. But such groups won’t last forever. Their leaders and members, those we so admire, will one day pass away along with their agendas. Nothing they offer can provide true fulfillment and satisfaction. And if we fail them, they turn away and forget us.

But what if you had an invitation to a group that is eternal, led by someone who will never pass away, who never stops loving you no matter how you fail to measure up?

Jesus said in Matthew 9:12-13, “‘Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. . . . I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.’” He was speaking to self-righteous religious leaders who thought that good works and sterling behavior would put them on God’s guest list. They were wrong.  Ephesians 2:8-9 and 2 Corinthians 5:21 say that salvation and being made right with God are free gifts because of His grace. Our own goodness gains us nothing.

God extends his invitation only to those who realize they are “sin-sick” and that no amount of good works or perfect morals can erase the penalty incurred by even their smallest sins. Only Jesus, the perfect Son of God could pay for sin by dying on the cross. God’s “in” group calls for humility, repentance, and faith in Christ alone.

PRAYER: Almighty God, I realize that it is only through trust in Christ and his atoning death that I can have eternal life. Please forgive me of my sins. I yield my life to you. Amen.