‘...the hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind to
carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of
the LORD.’
It’s not easy to invite unchurched people to church. Especially your
FRAN - Friends, Relatives, Associates, and Neighbors. So when our pastor announced that our church
anniversary will again be a FRAN Day, meaning we enlist them as guests, I’m
sure most of us secretly wished to be exempt. Or some may already be thinking of persuasive
scripts and enticing treats attached to the invites - say, free lunch and good
music. Why not? It’s still true. But isn’t it better if we’re completely honest
in sincerely saying, ‘Would you like to worship God with us next Sunday?’
King Hezekiah did exactly that. To the letter he sent throughout
Israel and Judah, he said: ‘People of Israel, return to the Lord…’ What he was
referring to was his invitation for them to come and celebrate the Passover. He
could have highlighted the feast. Food and fellowship could easily secure good
attendance. But he didn’t soft-sell. Instead, he boldly addressed their
long-standing issue of unfaithfulness and stubbornness and called everyone to
repentance and submission. Sure enough,
as what most of us feared, the couriers were met with scorn and ridicule. But
if they stopped at discouragement’s plot, they would have missed those in
Asher, Manasseh, Zebulun and Judah who humbly returned to Jerusalem. And those people would have missed the great
joy of being healed and heard by God Himself.
The verse above said ‘the hand of God was on the people’. Maybe
that’s the pointe we oftentimes
forget here. It is the Spirit of God who works in the hearts of people,
enabling them, us too, to respond to His call. The Bible is said to records six
hundred forty two personal invitations to ‘Come’. We are actually just the
couriers here. Apart from God’s initiative, we are sure to get NO answers. No
amount of sales talk or pleasing personality can make our FRANs come with us to
church. King Hezekiah knew that. But he still invited everyone anyway. After
all, it is God’s event, not his.
No comments:
Post a Comment