Elephant in the Room — The Impending Return of Jesus - Thursday
Today’s Verse
Matthew 22:10-12
And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.” (ESV)
“So…I probably disagree with just about everything you believe,” she said as we sat down.
“Well…” I shrugged, “You certainly wouldn’t be the first!” I smiled nonchalantly, doing my best to remain calm and not judge a book by its cover. Preparing myself for what would probably be a battle, I listened to what she had to say.
“So, obviously, I’m upset,” she gritted her teeth.
“That was pretty clear from your email,” I responded, doing my best to charm her.
It didn’t land.
“Look, I believe in kindness,” she lectured me. “I believe in acceptance and inclusion. I believe in justice…” With each power-word she emphasized, her tone rose, rambling until she was overcome with emotion. I didn’t know her story, but could sense she was lost—passionately believing in both everything and nothing—all at the same time.
“You sound a lot like Jesus,” I said softly, hoping to connect with her. “He believed in all those things, too.”
She paused for a moment, clearly confused by my statement. “But… you said according to what you believe… if I don’t believe in Jesus, I won’t go to heaven. I’m a good person! I just don’t believe the Bible. How is that being inclusive?” Slowly, I responded, choosing my words carefully.
“Actually, I didn’t say that… Jesus did…”
Jesus told a parable of a king preparing a great banquet for his son’s wedding. Though many were invited, several discarded their invitation, prompting his servants to gather anyone they could find—good and bad. However, when the king noticed one man wasn’t wearing his wedding garment, he wasn’t permitted to enter.
Just to be clear, this isn’t a story about what we as Christians should wear to a wedding. This is a story about what ALL of us must wear to the wedding. Unfortunately, the man in this parable decided to dress himself instead of clothing himself in the only thing that gets us in—Jesus’s righteousness.
In today’s culture, our tendency is to dress ourselves in our own self-righteousness, virtue-signaling to others with words like inclusion and kindness, insisting our secular creeds should somehow be enough. But nobody was more kind or inclusive than Jesus.
His return someday will be the world’s greatest wedding—and Jesus is the groom. He’s graciously invited everyone, good or bad. But only those who wear His name proudly will enter.
His words, not mine.
APPLICATION
How can you stay committed to biblical truth? Make a plan to read through one of the four Gospels by the end of the year.
PRAYER
Lord, help me to pursue the truth of Your Word.
