‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ Matthew 22:8-9

“WhadayaMEAN I can’t come in?” was the question I asked of the doorman. “I’m sorry sir, but your name is not on the list… and you are not wearing proper attire!” I was disappointed and a little hurt. But peering into the large room, I had to admit, I didn’t match the occupants of that room. I hadn’t bothered to RSVP when I got the invite, because I didn’t take it seriously.

It looked like it was a fun soiree… from the outside. In fact, I hadn’t really figured my workmate to be that fancy of a guy, as I’d never really seen him all that serious before. His jokes and stories made me feel comfortable, like family. I didn’t really bother with the RSVP, and the Black tie thing… I thought that was a joke! But hey, we weren’t all that close anyway.

It wasn’t until I was rejected that I seriously thought about how enjoyable the evening MIGHT have been, had I taken the time to prepare. I COULD have asked more questions to clarify, but I’d never really seen David as a ‘stick to the rules’ kind of guy. I also had to admit that I didn’t really know him THAT well. Heck, I didn’t even know he could AFFORD such a party!

O.K., I’m embellishing. That event didn’t take place. But it combined 2 events that actually did. Once I took my bride to a restaurant that required coats and ties. Not knowing, I was dressed nice, but not nice enough. Luckily, the Maitre D offered me a jacket and tie, which surprisingly was acceptable to the establishment, even though it didn’t match my clothes!

The other time I was expecting to get into a private party. I knew the people well. When I showed up as the invited officiant of the wedding, I hadn’t realized that attending ‘The Reception’ was not a part of the deal! I felt silly. But all these occasions prove the point that there are places I cannot go because I have not met a particular criteria for the event.

Jesus has invited EVERYONE to His Personal Wedding party. In fact, it is not really a party as much as it is an ENGAGEMENT! He wants ME to be part of the main event! The invitation to HIS party though, requires a LOT of preplanning! I must agree to HIS terms and conditions if I want to be a part of the greatest event of all time… “The Marriage Supper of the Lamb!”

Are YOU part of the wedding AND the reception? Are you SURE?  Are you prepared?

“Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:12-13

“Brrrrrrr!” I said. Then added, “Baby it’s cold outside!” to my bride. I really didn’t have to tell her. She was wrapped in a blanket and saying the same thing! Curious, I looked outside the window where my thermometer hung. It laughed back at me… ‘it’s 46 degrees, ya big baby!” The same thing YOU might be thinking now! But hey! Cold is RELATIVE! Right?

When we were first married and living in Cleveland, Katie used to sneak her feet up to the back of my my legs, while under the covers, to get warm. “AAAAAGH!” was ALWAYS my response. Back then, I was warm and she was cold. Now it seems reversed. While driving in the car, she adjusts her side to ice… I adjust mine to ‘balmy!’ Today, we’re BOTH cold!

How I ‘feel’ is conditioned upon more than 1 thing. I notice that 46 in the Florida humidity is WAY worse than 46 in the dry mountains. Wetness added to cool, makes cold! Humidity added to warm, makes hot! It’s the condition of the air that can make the difference. Like wickedness, added to societal contentment, leads to evil! Yup! It’s getting colder outside!

The last Church in Revelation is the one that makes Jesus most want to throw up! The Church at Laodicea finds its parishioners neither fired up for Jesus, nor frozen against Him. Jesus finds them ‘lukewarm.’ His statement makes me think he would prefer complete evil more acceptable than apathetic care-less-ness! A title not fit for describing a Church!

As the world grows more evil, men’s hearts are growing colder. I can find myself shivering beneath a heart that can easily become frozen to the good actions. ‘Eh.. what’s the use? They’re never gonna get it anyway!” mixes with “no sense kicking that snowman, he can’t feel anyway,” leads me toward a ‘do-nothing’ kind of attitude. Shivering wakes me up!

I am reminded by The Spirit that the temperature of my heart can be deeply affected by evil that surrounds it. If I let evil set in without resistance, love can easily escape to a warmer climate. Sometimes the best way to get warm, is to become active in some action for doing good! Jesus said, “Go into the world and spread the Good News!” In other words… DO IT!

In what condition and temperature do you find YOUR heart? What can YOU do today to make your world better for Him? Cuz He’s watching!

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

It was a JOY-FILLED church service. One that I had ever been to, or done before. But this one was special! Having looked over the kids in our church a week before, and having learned from a man who had spoken God’s Word over his children, I felt led to pray for and speak over OUR Church’s special group of kids that attend every week. And OH how special they are!

Having asked the parents for a word or 2 describing each of their individual children, an amazing truth popped out that should have come naturally. Parents had 2, 3 and even 4 children between them. But of all the children standing on that altar area… ALL of them were DIFFERENT! Even if they had the same parents and were the same gender and God!

The thought hit me, remembering my own children as they grew. We found that what worked for our oldest, didn’t necessarily work for the other 3! Each reacted and responded to learning and growing differently! That thought alone, in my own mind, proved that God exists and that HE is the one who creates personality. It is HE who gifts each of us with ability.

Looking at the picture today, I noted that almost every grape looks the same as the other. They all come from the same vine, and probably taste exactly the same. But when it comes to people, that vine formula doesn’t work! I have the opportunity to stay connected to the vine, which is Christ, or go it alone. But what Jesus grows within me is HIS choice. All are special!

The talent, fruit and flavor of each of us is different. Even among those within the same family. Some are extroverts while others introverts. Some go on to be teachers, while others become givers and helpers. But ALL of us can be connected to the same vine and used by the same Savior. The key to Fruiting is REMAINING in Him. NOTHING fruits otherwise!

Today I am going to rest in my Savior and ask Him to show me how I can be the sweetest and loveliest fruit ‘He’ wants me to be. I don’t need to look around and compare myself with, or judge other fruits. That is the Master’s job. I just want to remain connected to The Vine to fruit with Him. How about YOU? Are YOU discovering and bearing the kind of fruit He wants?

“But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.” Matthew 13:16

DO you see? Or DON’T you see? This type of picture is called a Stereogram. It’s a plane image or pair of two-dimensional images that, when appropriately viewed using both eyes, produces an image which appears to be three-dimensional. And yes… it’s plane… not plain! Confused? Well that’s actually the point! And in today’s world, confusion is satan’s goal!

God made our eyes and mind to work together. More powerful than any supercomputer, even MY human body defies explanation! Seeing is only ONE of many miraculous systems that man cannot even begin to generate or create. When I close 1 eye, I see 1 image that is mostly 1 dimensional. 2 eyes bring lots of calculations together to form a 3d image.

Looking at that picture, I had NO idea what it was trying to show me. I had to actually UNFOCUS, or stare right past or through, the image before the hidden picture could be revealed. And it’s not unlike the world we are living in today. Jesus told us to go out into the world and SHOW OFF The Good News to the lost and confused. A tall order for the confused.

I know confusion tends to take me out… mentally that is. It is very easy to become so overburdened and troubled that I can’t see the forest for the trees. But Jesus doesn’t come into, and make my life EASIER! In fact, His presence often causes even MORE difficulty than I previously experienced. That is because I cannot look at both worlds at the same time!

The Be-attitudes clearly show that Christ can ONLY help the weak, meek, mournful, hungry and lost when I REALIZE I CANNOT see things through on my own. It takes giving MY life and MY problems to Him… and then stepping back… focusing on HIM and NOT the problem. Trust lets go and leans in! Do YOU see that? Are you stepping back and letting Jesus help you see?

“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3:18

“Did you see it?” It was a texted question posed to me about an hour after ‘the event.’ Our Sign ministry team had been on ‘The Corner,’ a major intersection in our little town, holding Gospel signs to passers-by. Suddenly, someone pointed south and skyward! “Look at THAT!” he said! Sure enough, down south and very high, a man in a plane was writing a message!

“What’s he doing?” one asked. “I think he’s writing a message,” said another. “What’s it say?” I asked. “Another responded… I think he’s writing ‘LOVE!’” And sure enough… that’s EXACTLY what it said! I smiled at the message because we too were holding about 16 signs telling travelers about God’s love and grace. While above us, God was working overtime!

Standing on the corner with Jesus signs is very encouraging. Fellow Jesus people honk at us all the time! We’ve come to laugh at the folks who make the turn, or start at the green light by pushing the gas pedal to the floor. The sound comes out something like… “GRRRRRRR”! But they had to read first, in order to respond. READING God’s Word is step number 1.

I don’t know what it’s like to fly a plane and write a message in the sky. There’s no doubt that skywriting, which takes a plane, skill and money… is a unique ministry. The pilot is probably alone, just doing his thing. At the corner, we can at least hear honks of encouragement that he doesn’t get! But the pilot isn’t doing it for accolades. He’s doing it for Jesus! Just like us!

There was a connection in our ministries… and it wasn’t just space. We had mutual purpose and love for our Savior, Jesus Christ. I looked up a story online and I’m guessing that the man responsible for the skywriting was an old guy out of Orlando, who Jesus told to “put your talent to use!” The question we ALL have to answer is, of what use can I be… to Jesus?  Why not ask Him?

“Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” Ephesians 5:11

He was WAY down the road when I saw him! Which gave me time to think about what to do when I caught up. A man wearing a backpack was riding a bicycle, while pulling another one along. The closer I got, the wavy-er he rode. Approaching him carefully, I lowered my window and asked… “Is that your bike?” The toothless man, wearing a Marine ball-cap, got angry, then said, “who are YOU?”

I was still trying to figure out what I was seeing, so I answered HIM with a question… “Who are YOU and is that your bike?” With all hands and feet rather busy, his anger got the best of him. “Well you just wait right there, and I’ll show YOU who I am!” With that, he tried to get off the bicycle without crashing both! With his angry demeanor, I knew the bike wasn’t his!

I’ve had bikes stolen from me before. Like any theft, there’s a negative feeling of hopelessness and vulnerability that was left in the bike’s place. Losing something by theft makes trust in others harder to find and reveals that life on Earth… is a battle that evil CAN win! Hating to feel like a victim, I usually stand up for righteousness when I see something out of whack!

Suddenly, the man’s anger arose and I had a decision to make. I could pull off to the side of the road and take him up on his challenge. Or I could just press the gas pedal and move on. Not wanting to ‘make the news,’ urged me to ride off into the sunset. But in my exit from evil, I sent off a warning of my own to help him rethink his life… “I’m going to go call the police!”

Today’s verse is very clear. Paul tells us that seeing evil, and keeping quiet about it, are not bunk-mates! We are told to avoid evil. But also commanded to expose it when we see it. We have kids in our land who need to see, and avoid, evil for what it is. Bike guy may have gotten away with something, but he now knows that not everyone will just ‘let it go!’

Are YOU a member of God’s Anti-evil team of warriors? Do you stand against it when evil is seen coming your way? My Dad taught me that, ‘saying nothing makes ME guilty!’ God’s Word must be where he learned that lesson! I’ve learned that I do not want evil riding alongside me, steering my direction! Thanks Dad’s!

“Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” James 4:14

Though I really had no reason to, I’d just talked to him a week ago! A blast from the past, his name had popped into my head, leaving impact enough to make me pursue the nudge. That I was able to even remember his name, then miraculously find a phone number for him, was a miracle. We talked… his situation? Bad, but improving. He made a promise. Now he is gone!

It had been YEARS since we last talked. Things weren’t really good back then either. But I encouraged and pushed and warned… doing it all in the Name of the Jesus who called me to do just that! When money was stated as a problem, I hired him to do a job for me. He did it well and I paid him. But nothing seemed to click. After several months… he left!

Look… I don’t have an exact, detailed answer to ‘WHY’ any more than anyone else. Too often I can’t even phrase the question well enough to deserve an answer. But I have learned WRONG answers for a LOT of stupid excuses that people fall for, far too easily! ‘NO!’ God did not take your loved one! ‘NO!’ They’re NOT looking down on you from heaven to help guide you now!

Forrest Gump used the line in a movie by the same name. In it he said, “Stupid is as stupid does.” It’s a line that should be found in the Bible under the authorship of David, or his stupid son Solomon! Solomon, the WISEST man ever to live on earth, ended up specializing in stupid so well, that he lost his kingdom. So who am I to think that ‘I’ am exempt from it’s clutches?

I’ve seen this kind of sadness too often. It comes with the business. People are born… people die. People rise up… people fall. And everybody dies! The only thing ‘stupider’ than death, is our living life as if it really won’t happen to US! I’ve intervened in many lives, giving God’s Word and my experience as warning ‘if’ lines are crossed. I even have photos, after stupid shows!  ‘Maybe if ‘you’ would have said it nicer…’  people have added.

I write this to remind myself. Katie HATES the word stupid, but I like it. Because it CLEARLY defines deliberate disobedience. “DO NOT TOUCH THE FIRE.. YOU WILL BE BURNED!” TSSSS! I’ve learned that, when it comes to consequences, there are many accidents. God had whispered His Spirit and sent warning through word and people. Not obeying… is a choice!

I generally know what God wants me to do, think or believe. Acting on it usually meets distraction in the form of a stupid excuse, reason or personal benefit outside of His counsel. Today, I am going to review the potential consequences BEFORE I make my choice. May God help us ALL hear Him… VERY clearly! And DO what He says!

“They are (I am) your servant(s) and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand.” Nehemiah 1:10

“In my own little corner,” is a song written by the famous “Rogers and Hammerstein” music duo. The Play, ‘Cinderella,’ was free on Prime, and since Katie and I hadn’t seen it since our kids were kids, sentiment had me push ‘Play.’ Katie warned me as it started, “this is going to be SOOO Corny!” “But you LOVE Corny,” I said. The play began and soon, the first song.

I remembered Cinderella, played by Lesley Ann Warren, all the way back from my days as a child. I transferred back in time to a place where corny wasn’t really a thing. Before sophisticated theatrics and computers made such moments seem almost real! As the first song, “In my own little corner,” came on, Katie and I actually sang along at the chorus.

“In my own little corner,
In my own little chair,
I can be whatever I want to be.
On the wing of my fancy
I can fly anywhere
And the world will open its arms to me. “

Cinderella had been punished and told to go to her corner. There, she chose to use that spot to make a superhero change in her life. No longer a victim, she became ‘whatever she wanted to be.’ Over 60 years have passed, and while I dare not request my grandchildren to watch it, I find myself in very difficult circumstances all the time. And try to follow her lead every day.

It’s a great story. How a sadly, abused servant gets taken advantage of, but turns out to become ‘The Princess.’ No one really considered it plagiarism… but it is! The story is written on all of our hearts, by ‘The King of the Universe.’ The devil and the world tell me I am a slave. Jesus tells me I can become ‘anything I want to be.’  Even His Bride!  I choose to become ‘His Servant!’

Rambling on through a life filled with difficulties and trials, I work on deliberately singing songs of praise and honor to my King. I do so because they remind me that I AM HIS! God has a funny way of choosing His leaders by using the measuring tape called ‘servant-hood.’ To properly lead God’s people, I must first learn to FOLLOW and SERVE them… FOR HIM!

It seems like a corny plan. But this is His Play… His-Story! This morning, I know my role, and am about to put on my jeans to go out into the world to hold signs and become… ‘His Servant!’ “How may I assist you, Lord?” Are you singing and serving along with me?

Once in a while I read a devotional that I simply cannot keep to myself.  This is one.  How often do we slink back into the shadows so as to not be bothered on risking rejection?  Do we REALLY BELIEVE what we hear to be God’s Word?  If this gets you even an ‘inch’ closer to ‘Going into the world to tell the lost the Good News of Eternal Life in Christ, it is worth the read.  Please do.  -K.C.

DesiringGod.org – written by Greg Morse

Weeks ago, I discovered how little I really believed in hell. I am not sure how else to explain it. I realized it while at a children’s play area, watching my three little ones run, jump, and waddle about.

Seated on the other side of the play place sat a young Latino man lost on his phone. He had several kids, several tattoos, and no wedding ring. How he dressed and how he carried himself reminded me of the men I grew up with, the young man I was at his age. Having read my Bible and having grown up in the area, I assumed he did not know the Lord. More likely than not, he had never heard the true gospel. More likely than not, he didn’t want to.

In that moment, I imagined myself walking over to share Christ with him, only to have him dismiss me as some corny, churchy, preachy-type (as I might have done at his age). And there we would sit — me wishing I never walked over; he wishing the same.

Instead of getting up, though, I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. And that is when it hit me: I do not really believe in hell right now. How could I? My compassion blew away at a mere inconvenience. Jesus’s doctrine of eternal, conscious torment was no real thing to me. Nor was the eternal blessedness of heaven. Missionaries have crossed oceans, left families, brought their coffins with them to foreign lands; yet there I sat, retreating at the mere thought of rejection. What kind of faith was this?

The scary part, I realize, was that in that same moment, I could have started writing an article about hell, preached an impromptu sermon, debated an atheist on its necessity. Yet, reciting Bible verses wasn’t what was required — believing them was. Across from me sat an immortal soul, and yet there I just sat, unwilling to travel even a few short steps to enter an awkward conversation that could have led him to eternal life.

I wish I could report that I stood up and began preaching. I wish I could tell you that I walked over to that young man and prayerfully spoke words of life to his soul. But I didn’t. To my shame, I suppressed the stirring, indulged unbelief, and heartlessly packed up my kids and left that man just where he sat. Lord, have mercy upon us both.

Bright Red Letters

How would our lives look differently, yours and mine, if we believed that hell is for real? How many trivialities, how many unworthy anxieties, how many small concerns and tiny pursuits would be lit aflame? How many selfish insecurities, how many dull and shallow days, how many unworthy entertainments and lukewarm seasons and cowardly inactivity would simply shatter by believing what Jesus himself told us about the judgment to come?

Our Christlikeness can be rather selective at times, can’t it? Who believed in or spoke of hell more than Jesus? Who else knew with utter certainty what fierce artillery aimed every day at the wicked? All the apostle’s teaching is Christ’s teaching, but what did Jesus himself say about hell? What were his reddest letters? See if your soul can sip even a small sample from just the first Gospel:

“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.” (Matthew 5:29–30; Matthew 18:8–9)

“The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. . . . So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:41–42, 49–50)

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’ . . . And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:41, 46)

Outer darkness. A fiery furnace. Destruction of both body and soul (Matthew 10:28). Eternal punishment. Inarticulate wailing. Teeth grinding. “Many” travel there (Matthew 7:13). Jesus’s sermons often fell like napalm, because he loved the souls of men.

Jesus gives us shocking glimpses of judgment in scalding and scarlet letters. Scripture contains many more. We need them to rouse us to love, forgiveness, purity, patience, and to God himself. Will we nod at them, close the book, and leave it upon the dresser? Will these words not send us to the nations, to ambush sin, to walk across a playground? Did Christ leave us here to wave at unbelievers as they sprint past us off the cliff? Is this love for God and love for neighbor?

Friendless Depths

We can daringly tell Christ’s message about hell because that message is about much more than hell. It is about a God who took on flesh to drink down the wrath his people deserved.

Knowing the full horrors of hell, oh, manly and heroic he, came to us, became us, stepped in front of us, to save us. He did not experience hell proper — hell begins after the resurrection and the final judgment. But he did face that wrath which makes the lake of fire, we might say with due reverence, into a fiery puddle. The wicked in hell never approach the full weight, never near the full price, never exhaust the divine quiver of the arrows their sins deserve. But to ransom even one soul, the God-man paid the full debt, suffered the full torment, empties a cup of eternal woe. In other words, where the wicked shall suffer incompletely (though still horribly) forever, he plunged to the very bottom of that great lake of wrath to rescue us.

See him, O saint, diving, down, down, down, through to soul-blistering depths, further and further, deeper and deeper, agonizing, alone.

With hand outstretched for the bottom, “he poured out his soul to death” (Isaiah 53:12). Through friendless deeps and misery unmeasured, see this Son of Sorrows swim boldly along the bottom — omnipotent wrath crushing him. See him feel upon the seabed, ah, one lost pearl. A little further, the second. Further still, a third. As the pressure increases beyond bearing, he cries, “I thirst!” yet presses on, though heaven’s troops would stand at his beck and call. He will have his prize, his people. One by one, under heat and wrath-shattering contemplation, he reaches out, Christian, for you, holds you, claims you as his own. Angels are stunned into silence. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he cries (Matthew 27:46). After six excruciating hours, he collects his last pearl and shouts victoriously, “It is finished” (John 19:30).

For all eternity, Jesus alone reached the bottom of God’s righteous hatred toward sin. He alone absorbed the full wrath of his Father crushing him as “he became sin for us, who knew no sin” (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). No sinner in all of eternity shall submerge the depths he did. None besides the Lion of the tribe of Judah could so conquer. Sinners eternally sip at a challis they cannot hope — or bear — to finish. He did.

Cruel Kindness

Christian reader, do you really believe this?

If we all did, would our cities not be filled with a knowledge of Christ? When we refused to avoid eye contact with those in our everyday lives, as I did that day, how might our local parks, laundromats, coffee shops, restaurants, and sporting events fill with the name above all names?

You and I need to learn a little more gospel impoliteness: to learn to speak when unasked, to go when uninvited, and to tell that name — that only name given under heaven — by which men must be saved. Let Spurgeon’s arrows sink to the heart.

We are so gentle and quiet, we do not use strong language about other people’s opinions; but let men go to hell out of charity to them. We are not at all fanatical, and for all we do to disturb him, the old manslayer has a very comfortable time of it. We would not wish to save any sinner who does not particularly wish to be saved. We shall be pleased to say a word to them in a mild way, but we do not speak with tears streaming down our cheeks, groaning and agonizing with God for them; neither would we thrust our opinions upon them, though we know they are being lost for want of knowledge of Christ crucified. (Words of Counsel for Christian Workers, 32–33)

Humanly speaking, I was willing to let that man go to hell out of a dark sort of charity to him (and a dark sort of charity to me). He probably didn’t want to hear of Christ (as many don’t). He might have rejected it (which many do). But such cowardly calculations are not mine or yours to make. And the historic and biblical doctrine of eternal, conscious, just torment of the wicked should have consumed that cold, fleshly indifference known in plainer tongues as cowardice or hatred.

What would happen in our cities if every Christian (and every church) really believed in the horrors of hell and, with it, the desperate need of every soul for Jesus Christ?

Greg Morse is a staff writer for desiringGod.org and graduate of Bethlehem College & Seminary. He and his wife, Abigail, live in St. Paul with their son and two daughters.