Responding To God’s Love

“He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea” (Psalm 102:17)

Just recently we received an invitation to a wedding. No there is nothing unusual in that and the invitation came from dear friends asking us to attend the marriage of their son who is also dear to us, but what was surprising to us was the way it arrived. It arrived in the mailbox of our e- mail site. It required much clicking on this link and more clicking on this icon even to discover what this mysterious message was all about. Then came the most difficult task of all. How do we respond?!!! As in most cases when we strike difficulties of this nature we call in one of our granddaughters. She very patiently tried to explain this was part of a package called “Create an Event” and that everybody (the “everybody” emphasized) now issues invitations this way and of course in her capable hands our response to the invitation was soon on its way. When we were young responding to any formal invitation was taken quite seriously. Even the wording of the invitation itself was couched in proper terms. When the invitation was sent the wording went somewhat like this; “The pleasure of your company is desired at…” The reply was equally gracious and went like this; “It gives us great pleasure to accept your kind invitation to…” Clicking the YES box somehow does not compare or give any indication of any feeling of graciousness.

While I was thinking about our response to the invitation, and the big changes that technology has brought about, I began to examine in my mind what “respond” meant in any situation. It is actually a very active word always embodying some definite action. We may say there was a positive response to the fund raising event. The man experiencing a heart attack responded well to treatment. The reverse is also used, we talk about accident victims being unresponsive, literally not breathing.

Our Gracious Heavenly Father is constantly issuing us loving invitations to come and spend time with him,

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3)

“…They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, “they are my people and they will say, “The Lord is our God”…” (Zechariah 13:9)

The Lord’s invitation is an open one. We don’t have to worry if we have made the guest list; our Savior has cleared any barriers that may hinder us having direct contact with our Heavenly Father. One thing does need to be done. We have to respond to his call. Respond does require some form of action.

Response can take many different forms. One of the best known ways is prayer. When we actively set aside a daily time to speak and interact with him we are graciously responding to his invitation. We can respond in other ways in our daily life. We read in Hosea (Hosea 2:21) that God himself responds to nature. So can we. I love the mountains here in British Columbia and when we drive through some roads lined with huge maple trees and firs I respond in wonder often saying out aloud,

“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8:1)

We can respond with thankfulness when one of our prayers has been answered. We can respond with a willing attitude when we feel he is asking us to be his servant for a particular task. We can respond with praise and joy when we look into the eyes of that little new born grandson.

Brennan Manning writes in his book, “Reflections for Ragamuffins”

“We become like everyone else, fail ourselves and the community by failing to respond to the living, vibrant, magnificent image of Christ that is within us waiting only to be expressed”

Manning is urging us to respond to God’s call so we stand out as belonging to him. As we respond to him we will be expressing who the Lord is to all with whom we come in contact.

How will we graciously respond to that loving invitation this week?

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