Imagine you and a handful of friends are co-hosting a party; maybe a baby shower or a bachelor party. You and the other hosts are at the venue prior to the event starting and you’re setting up. You’ve got the food out on the tables and the cake table is just perfectly so, things are shaping up nicely. You just need to put out the forks and you should be good to go for the event to begin! Except, as you start to place the forks on the table, one of the other hosts has a different idea about how to display them. You want them stacked in a nice, orderly fashion – piles of five forks each, fanned out just right. The other host wants them tossed into a Mason jar with some cute ribbon tied around the jar. Another host thinks the forks should be wrapped inside napkins with raffia tied around them.

For whatever reason, this fork talk has gotten you all hot and bothered. You just can’t imagine why these other hosts won’t agree with your way to display the forks. And an argument ensues. Here you are, three grown adults, going to town with a “heated fellowship” over how to put some forks out on a table. Meanwhile, your voices are getting louder and louder. And the guests for the party are beginning to arrive…. they are literally outside the front door about to ring the doorbell when one of the guests says to the other in disbelief, “Do you hear that? Are people arguing and bickering?? I’m not sure I want to go inside if this is what there is to look forward to in there.”

Yet, you keep arguing. Except now, it’s not even about the forks. In the heat of the moment, you’ve moved on to how the decorations aren’t what you would have picked. Or there was a better cake flavor choice than the one being served. Things continue to escalate.  And more and more guests are standing outside not slightly interested in coming into this circus.

And before you know it, the guest of honor shows up expecting to be welcomed by family and friends. But instead, what the guest of honor finds upon arrival is a whole bunch of people standing outside the venue dreading even going inside. No one has spoken to these guests or invited them in, because there were “bigger things” going on – bigger arguments to settle among the hosts. There wasn’t time to address those on the outside of the door. Heck, you didn’t even look up to notice they were watching you. You were so wrapped up in being right or having your voice heard among the other hosts, that you never did your job. The job assignment was to welcome guests into the venue and to be kind and loving to them, serving them.

Now it’s too late, though. The guest of honor is here. And you weren’t ready. And neither were those on the outside of the door. Oh, you had the place decorated and you had all that you needed to get the thing done. But you couldn’t see past the forks. And instead, you ignored the people outside. You disregarded how the guest of honor would feel about your behavior. You got caught off guard but you knew all along this event was going to happen.

But that’s us isn’t it? Us in the church body – us Christians. We’ve been given a job assignment, but we’re so wrapped up in arguing among each other that we are embarrassing ourselves and no one wants to come in to the church body of believers. They’re watching from the outside seeing our ridiculous behavior and we literally have no clue. Because we just want to win an argument with other evangelicals. Meanwhile, there are people on the outside who need Jesus and do not know Him and it’s our JOB to “go and make disciples of all the nations” for Him (Matthew 28:19). HE is the Guest of Honor and He IS going to show up. The end of this age is coming. No one knows precisely when that will be, but Jesus said He will be coming back. The invitation has been sent out. The event will take place. Are you going to be caught off guard – in the middle of an argument with a fellow Christian over the most recent topic the world’s media suggested you argue about? Or are you going to be caught in the act of being kind and welcoming, showing God’s love to those on the other side of the door?

And when He does show up, are you going to recognize Him? Do you know Him, know Him? Are you spending time with Him daily? Talking to Him? Reading His Letters to you? Loving Him more than anything or anyone else? Waiting anxiously for the day He will see you face to face and call you by name? Because inside the venue or just outside the door, the time will come when you will have a conversation with the Guest of Honor. And how that scene plays out, is for you to decide. Will it be one of loving embrace and immeasurable happiness? Or one of sorrow and regret?

“See, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me, to repay all according to their deeds.” Revelation 22:12

I encourage you, please reach out to myself or a local church if you have questions about what it means to know Jesus personally. The thing Jesus wants most is you. He created you for a relationship with Him.