Love is invitation.
Choice and freedom are inherent in love. God doesn’t exercise coercion, but a divine restraint.
Imagine a boy wants to court a girl. Does he show up at her door day after day, pleading for her to love him?
Forced love isn’t love at all.
Creation
The walls of the universe cry out with an invitation.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech” (Psalm chapter 19, verse 1)
Creation cries out glory! Glory! There is a Unique One who has created us! He is God! He is Lord! All that has been made, has been made through Him! Who else but God could create a universe so beautiful, so divine?
A kaleidoscope of colours explode from nebulas. Waterfalls cascade. Mountains doff their snowy caps.
Creation cries out God is real. Implicit is the invitation.
There is no greater invitation than this.
For everyone
The invite extends to all. Nobody can say they have never received one.
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” (Romans chapter 1, verse 20)
God’s power and deity is clear. We are rendered without an excuse. I remember many times where I questioned God. I asked why doesn’t he show himself, why does he make it so hard to believe?
God doesn’t answer our prayer for him to reveal himself physically because he already has. He has revealed himself through the majesty of the universe.
The expansive universe is a constant invitation to all humans everywhere.
Outreach
This is how God operates.
God never dragged someone into his kingdom kicking and screaming. God only extended an invitation through the majesty of the universe. Which is truly god-like behaviour. Our invitation is of words. His invitation is of planets and galaxies.
Since God operates like this, since God extends invitations, so should we. Our heart for outreach should be an invitation to the greatest kingdom known to man.
It’s not to say that we shouldn’t warn people of hell. It’s not to say we shouldn’t call people to repent. Jesus did this. I’m saying that choice is key if you want to start a loving relationship.
Evangelism has many forms. There is power, care, reason all to be considered.
Jesus warned people of hell, he reclined with tax collectors, he prayed for the sick, touched the untouchables. Paul reasoned from the scriptures. When he was in Athens, he even referenced their poets.
A choice
I want to propose that because love is choice, because God operates the same way, evangelism should come from the heart of an invitation. Hopefully, in light of the majesty of God, in reverence, we can extend our own invitation to people around us.
While unbelievers might be blind to God’s invitation, and blind to our own, the veil can be removed.
“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 6)
In other words, the same God that spoke light into the darkness during the creation of the universe, is the same God that can speak a spiritual light into the darkness of people’s hearts.
God creates light from nothing. Both in a physical sense and a spiritual sense.
These invitations are not in vain.
While the ‘god of this age’ may blind the mind of unbelievers, God is still capable of removing that veil.
Praise God! He is a loving God that gives us the luxury of choice. He is a God so grand, using a universe to accomplish his purposes! He gives us the greatest invitation to the greatest kingdom!
Roden Meares enjoys playing basketball, reading comics and going to the gym. He has a passion for evangelising and helping others in their faith through writing.
Roden’s previous articles can be viewed at https://www.pressserviceinternational.org/roden-meares.html
Roden Meares enjoys playing basketball, reading comics and going to the gym. He has a passion for evangelising and helping others in their faith through writing.
Roden’s previous articles can be viewed at https://www.pressserviceinternational.org/roden-meares.html