The Wedding Celebration

If we don`t keep our lives topped up with the oil of the Holy Spirit, by asking the Lord for a fresh supply each day, then when the time comes for us to enter the wedding celebration we will be drained and in the dark and we will miss out

Source: Tell the Lord Thank You

I always like to write about something that is current to me, and at the moment I am in the throes of a wedding, my sons` wedding in fact. It seems that most thoughts these days seem to end up back at the arrangements. The success of the day is all about the planning, but the trouble is that this can lose sight of the real wonder of the day; two lives becoming one in the presence of the Lord (and all the guests of course). This got me thinking about how much Jesus knew of weddings. He actually talked about wedding quite a lot and He had obviously been to a few. He may even have had experience of the planning/preparation around a wedding from members of his own family.

The invitations - Jesus must have known about the excitement of sending out wedding invitations and the expectation that people would be pleased to be invited. In Luke 14:15-24 Jesus talked about a man holding a great feast and inviting many to come however one by one they all made excuses, saying they had different things to do. Imagine the man’s disappointment that people cared so little about his invitation. So, in the end the man sent out invitations to people in the streets and alleys of the town and the country lanes to come to his feast. I know how disappointed my son has been that some people couldn’t attend his wedding, and here is the Lord of Heaven and Earth inviting us to come and partake of His wonderful gift of new life through Jesus. Sadly, so many people find excuses not to accept this offer, yet day after day instead of rescinding His invitation He offers it to anyone and everyone. Let us not find reasons to reject the invitation to come to Him or spend time with Him or whatever else He may be inviting us to do at that moment.

Source: Dee Brestin

The seating plan -  ahh! This has caused many a headache deciding who should be sat by whom, it can be a real dilemma. Jesus knew all about this. In Luke 14: 8-11 He tells us all about this; ‘When you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the seat of honour.  What if someone who is more distinguished than you has also been invited? The host will come and say `Give this person your seat`. Then you will be embarrassed, and you will have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table! Instead take the lowest place at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say `Friend we have a better place for you!` then you will be honoured in front of all the other guests. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted’. Oh, how subtle expectation is. It`s my right to sit/be/have all the things I think I should. How disappointed and frustrated and sometimes envious and even resentful we become when we don’t seem to have what we think we `should have`. We feel that it is our right to be in say; a well-paid job, or have a better car, computer or whatever else we may value, even the kind of church we worship in. It's not wrong to desire all these things but when they take over and dominate all of our thinking (pushing us to demand them and to act resentfully if we don’t get them) then we are in danger. Jesus’s advice in the passage above is to take the lower place and wait to be invited by the host to the better place. Jesus summed this up in Mathew 6:33 by saying ‘Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you’.  In other words, let`s get our priorities right and God will sort out the rest.

The catering - Well, Jesus can turn water into wine (John 2:1-11) so problem solved, just let Him handle the catering and we will always have the best. This just depends what your ‘catering’ needs are today, trust Him with the problem, do what He tells you and leave the rest up to Him.

The right clothes - There is a parable in Matthew 22:11 about a man turning up to a wedding in the wrong clothes however this has a sad ending with the man being thrown out.  It is important for us to ask the Lord to clothe us with the robes of His righteousness in every situation so we will be properly attired ‘equipped’ for every situation we must face.

Preparation - Everyone knows the secret to a successful wedding is preparation. Those poor bridesmaids (or virgins in the more traditional texts) in Matthew 25:1-13. They had started well, they all had lamps, they all had oil and they were all waiting for the Bridegroom. They all got tired and fell asleep but when the Bridegroom finally arrived, the five who had prepared well had enough oil in their lamps to go with Him. The five who had not prepared thoroughly and only taken just enough oil were left in the dark and outside the celebration.  So, what does that all mean for us? Yes, we can get excited about being invited to the wedding (God’s plan of salvation) and accept the invitation, by asking him into our hearts and to forgive us our wrongdoings, by making sure we are seated in the right place and even by wearing the right clothes (His robes of righteousness).  However, if we don`t keep our lives topped up with the oil of the Holy Spirit, by asking the Lord for a fresh supply each day, then when the time comes for us to enter the wedding celebration (either the work He has for us to do, or ultimately the time for us to go to be with Him) we will be drained and in the dark and we will miss out.

And finally, The Bride - Every bride is special and prepares herself for that moment when her Groom turns and looks down the aisle and sees her for the first time in all her loveliness, prepared just for him. It is amazing to me that the Lord would want me (us) as His bride, but He does and He thinks we are very precious, so precious that He gave up His own life to secure mine (and yours). I need to take time today to prepare myself for Him. This can be so hard to do some days in the stresses of everyday life however today could be the day when the Bridegroom comes and calls us either to do something for Him or to be with Him. We must be careful not to be unprepared, so, may our lamps always be full of oil. God bless.

Author: Jan Pearson

May God bless and enrich your life

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