Comforts and Excuses (Part 2)

15 When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” 16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests.17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ 19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.” 20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ 21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ 22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ 23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’” – Luke 14:15-24

When times get tough and trouble comes our way, some of us may find it is easier to come back to God in those times. But when times are going well with us, all is most comfortable and we are filled with the most security is when we have forgotten God. We make more excuses to not live out the gospel and not to worship God. Instead we often say: “I am busy with work”, “I have too many projects and can’t fit it in my schedule”, “I have children now and am way too tied up and busy”, “my child sleeps at that hour”. But aside from exegetically dismissing them as excuses, any excuse is a matter of the heart. There is a fear of losing what we have, or hiding from the guilt and shame of not having spent much time with the Lord. The other is that we lack spiritual fervour and a trust in the Lord that compels us to persevere and push out from our creature comforts. If it is uncomfortable, we just won’t do it – and that is our sinful nature.

Spiritual discipline in gospel living requires absolute discomfort because it tears us away from our fleshly and broken nature that holds onto false comforts. But the deception is this: that we will ultimately find comfort in what I have or what I can attain in this lifetime. The truth, is that even in our most discomforting circumstances as we practice our spiritual discipline to cling to Christ and seek to constantly be in gospel living, we will ultimately and eternally find unmatchable comfort in the peace of the Holy Spirit that transcends all of what we may have lost. Our comfort and our peace does not come in decaying creation, but only in our creator.

Be honest today. What are some of the excuses you have made for not walking in the Lord? Stop giving the creature comforts of your life, or the pursuits of achievement that bring you earthly pleasure the finality of your life’s endgame, and instead find eternal peace, power, and pleasure in worshipping Him. This is not to say that we don’t need physical comfort and rest, but if it has lead you further from the presence of God and from living out the gospel daily, then we have ultimately compromised. Practice spiritual fervour and choose the opposite of what your flesh tells you to choose when we have the choice of following the Lord. It is there you will find that the greatest banquet and joy is awaiting for you – one that could never be matched nor compared in worth with anything this universe has to offer.

“In justification the word to be addressed to man is believe — only believe;
in sanctification the word must be ‘watch, pray, and fight.’”

– J.C. Ryle