Morning by Morning, August 9 - “Many are Called, but Few are Chosen”
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I want to know You more deeply; and I’m moved to entrust my heart and soul to You more completely -- now and throughout the moments of my day. ...
Are there parts of my heart and soul I’ve not yet completely surrendered to You? Are there areas of my life, places where I still insist on my own lordship instead of fully yielding to Your Lordship, that I’m still holding back or holding on to instead of wholly trusting You alone with it all?
It’s not about my salvation -- salvation is by grace through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8). But it is about something more, something You set before us and invite us to pursue with a spiritual hunger and thirst and passion and zeal that only You can provide, but that You are so ready and willing to supply. It relates to something You said and set before us when You declared, “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).
I don’t know all that that means, but You spoke those words in a very serious manner, after expressing this spiritual principle with a very challenging parable:
“Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad, so the wedding hall was filled with guests.
“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:1-14).
Thank You for inviting me to salvation -- by grace, through faith. Thank You for calling me to a place of honor and celebration. But forgive me for ever making light of it. Forgive me for every way I’ve not always treasured it. You are worthy of more. You are worthy of it all. You are worthy of my all.
By the mercy of Your grace, may I be one who is “chosen” -- not merely invited, not merely called, but “chosen.” Again, I’m not talking about salvation. I’m talking about something more, something deeper, something that I don’t even fully know what it is, but You’ve put a hunger and thirst in me for more.
May I be one of Your chosen ones, one of Your hungry and thirsty ones, one of Your insatiable, passionately pursuing ones, who will settle for nothing less than all You’ve called me and created me to be in You. May I be one who embraces “Your way,” who walks in “Your truth,” and with “an undivided heart” reveres “Your name” (Psalm 86:11). May I be one who loves the Lord my God “with all (my) heart and with all (my) soul and with all (my) might” (Deuteronomy 6:5; also Joshua 22:5; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27).
May I be blessed to be “chosen,” favored to be “chosen” -- chosen as one who fully chooses You -- as best as I can and all by Your grace. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
“For this is the will of God, (my) sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). So by the power of Your grace working in me, stirring up this hunger and thirst in me, “May the God of peace Himself sanctify (me) entirely, and may (my) spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls (me) is faithful, and He will do this” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).
Yes, Lord, “do this” in me -- as one who willingly chooses to be among those who are “chosen.” In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My friend, may you be blessed and favored to be "chosen" as one who willingly, completely, passionately chooses the One who has chosen you, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you!
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Messiah Ministries Mailing Address:
412 S. Adams Street #148
Fredericksburg, Texas 78624
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