We all like to get invitations. There’s something exciting about opening them. Sure, occasionally we get an invitation we’d rather avoid, but how much worse it would be to get no invitations at all because getting an invitation means that someone values us. 2000 years ago, the greatest Someone in the universe stepped out of Heaven and came down to Earth to issue invitations. What did He invite us to?
To come away with Him (Mk. 6:31).
During their years with the Lord Jesus, the twelve disciples spent a great deal of time in the spotlight—on display due to their proximity to Him. But, as with us, their public ministry was shaped and fueled by their private time with Christ.
To come forward to Him (Lk. 6:8).
The man with the withered hand was in an environment that was hostile to the Lord. Christ’s enemies were watching, ready to pounce. When invited by the Lord, the afflicted man had a choice: come forward and take a stand for Christ regardless of the consequences, or remain in the safety of the crowd—unhealed. He wisely chose to ignore the critics (who cared nothing for Him) and embrace the only One who could help him.
To come after Him (Lk. 14:27).
Christ has not called us to a life of religion. The Christian life is far higher and nobler than that. It is to follow after the Lord Jesus; it’s to walk as He walked and, in so doing, to walk with Him. It will cost us everything we have, yet we will find that trading refuse for glory is no sacrifice at all.
To come down to Him (Lk 19:5).
Zacchaeus was considered an important man by the world (and, no doubt, by himself as well). He was a chief tax collector and he was rich. Is it reading too much into the passage to say that the Lord wasn’t only referring to Zacchaeus’s lofty position in the tree when He told him to come down in order to be with Him?
To come forth to Him (Jn. 11:43).
If Lazarus had served any other master, then his ability to respond to invitations would have ceased four days earlier. But Jesus had promised, “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (Jn. 5:25) and He was, as always, as good as His Word. This is a little picture of a far greater resurrection yet to come: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout…and the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Th. 4:16). He will call us and every last Christian, dead or alive, will come forth to Him.
To come to Him (Mt. 11:28; Mk. 10:14; Lk. 18:16).
Lastly, sometimes we’re simply invited to come to Him. Whatever our position or age or need, He loves each one of us and—I can hardly believe it!—desires our fellowship.
So, regardless of the circumstances, every one of the Lord’s invitations is really an invitation to Himself, isn’t it? Forward out of the crowd to Him; down out of the tree to Him; up out of the boat to Him; forth out of the grave to Him. The point isn’t what we’re leaving; it’s where we’re going: to Him.