' "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. "Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.' "But they paid no attention and went off - one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. "Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests." '
[Matthew 22:2-10]
Even though not all people will come to know Christ, the gospel invitation is open to all who are able to hear it – much like those who are invited to the wedding banquet in these verses. It saddens me that those who were invited ended up not deserving the invitation. God, by His grace, offers so much to His created people… yet many turn their backs on Him [for a variety of reasons]. I can only imagine how this makes our Lord God feel. To love so many, to such a great extent, and then not be loved in return? Even though God doesn’t need anything from us, this realization is heartbreaking to me. But those whom He has chosen are worthy of Him by His grace and mercy.
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