Invite Who?

Luke 14: 12-14

And Jesus also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may invite you in return and that will be your repayment.
But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

Jesus is still at this dinner that the prominent Pharisee had invited Him to. And He is still lecturing them. 

Now He's turning to His host, and telling him who to invite to the next party. If you remember, this religious leader had wanted to trap Jesus into doing something that their additional rules forbade that they had added to God's Law so that they would be able to accuse Him, but He had seen through their plot.

Now it seems like He is going on and on about the right way to go about things, to this group of people who just didn't get it. 

So He told His host to just simply look for rewards that will last forever, instead of what will blow away or burn up. Jesus knew people, He could see into their hearts, to discern their motives. He could see that this man wanted to be repaid, rewarded for his good deeds, so He told him how to get valuable rewards that will last, instead of the cheap trinkets he had been gathering. 

Jesus really did want to help him and his guests to do right. He wants us all to do right. That's why the Holy Spirit had Doctor Luke write these teachings for us to learn, too. 

If we're only being nice to people who are nice to us, then we're not "being Christ" to those we associate with. Even worldly and evil people do this. 

Jesus associated with the out-casts, the shunned, the rejected people of His day. When was the last time you did something for someone who could never return the favor? What is your attitude toward those others are disgusted with? 

O my Father, help me to always see others through Your eyes, to look for what is good in others, regardless of how they look or act or smell. You have made each of us members of Mankind in Your own image and likeness, even though we have marred and twisted that image. 

Help me to look past all the mistakes and dirt and infirmities of others in my world, to see the desire in their hearts for good, even when they don't realize You are that good they want. Just as I didn't know that You are the Truth I was looking for. 

Father, send me to those who are seeking You, in whatever aspect of Your personality they are looking for. Show me how to show them Who You are, that You are the Source of everything they could ever want or need. 

Continue to send workers into Your fields to reap those who are ripe for harvest. Continue to cultivate Your fields, Father, preparing Your lost sheep to come to You when You have made them ready. Then have Your worker there to show You to them, and You will draw them into the safety of the One Fold with One Shepherd. 

And You will receive all the praise, all the credit, all the glory and honor and blessing; when every knee will bow, every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord of all, to the glory of God the Father, forever and ever. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!