I think to myself how often I reject invitations when they present themselves.

In Luke 14:15-24, Jesus tells us the Parable of the Great Banquet. The story begins with the man who prepared the banquet sending out his servant to tell the invitees that the banquet was ready. However, for various reasons they all declined the invitation. Hence, it made me reflect on why I turned down invitations.

Firstly, procrastinating to wait and see if a better opportunity comes along provides a motive for not accepting an invitation. Like the man who asked to be excused because he just bought a field. I am sure the man like me could have found the time if he really wanted to accept the opportunity.

Secondly, being unable to accept the invitation because you have to take care of another situation at the time. In the parable it was the buying of five oxen or just being married that was the reason for their inability to attend. The question I ask is do I allow circumstances to conspire against me for my non attendance or can I shift events around to allow me to attend?  I am sure sometimes if I really think about it, I use different occurrences to suit my own agenda.

Finally, the man was angry that the invitees refused to attend so he sent his servant to invite the poor, crippled ,  blind and lame to come to the great banquet. Consequently, other people will take the opportunities that were yours to grasp. That’s why I believe you should always accept the opportunity when it presents itself because it might not be coming your way again.