The Invitation

Romans 13:11-12a – And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. (NIV)

While waiting for the information to come through about posters I design for a Christian organization, I thought I would tell you a little of what I do.

Once all the details come to me via e-mail, the first thing I do is to set up the invitations telling about the upcoming meeting. This is done a month in advance, so that the posters can be picked up and placed where they can be seen, and hopefully responded to.

I am able to get four invitations on one piece of paper, all with a border around them, and I forward this as an attachment to the person who prints them on heavier, contrasting-coloured paper, and then cuts them into four.

Then, knowing the colour of paper to be used for the poster, I continue using the information to create an eye-catching poster to advertise our meeting, which is posted in every church and Christian location in our city of Brampton, Ontario, Canada. The poster is unique in that it is done on legal-sized paper, so that the bottom can be folded up to form a pocket to hold the invitations.

At this point in time, I have no idea what the invitation will be or what I will be asked to place on it!

So while I am waiting, I thought I would make up an invitation for us readers to receive the Holy Spirit of Jesus and His forgiveness, so that we will live eternally with God. This is our invitation to receive Jesus:

• Acknowledge that, although God has a wise and loving plan for our lives, we all fall far short of reaching God's best for us, the abundant life, because we've sinned.
• Believe that God has reached out in love to us in His Son, Jesus, who, by His death on the cross, paid the penalty for our sin so that we could have abundant life.
• Confess our sin to Jesus and receive Him, His forgiveness, and His abundant life.

It is not enough to agree intellectually that Jesus Christ is God and that He died on the cross for our sins. Nor is it enough to have an emotional experience. We receive Jesus by an act of the will, trusting His promise: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him." (Revelation 3:20 NKJV). To receive Jesus, we could pray like this:

Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sin. I now open the door of my life and receive You as my Saviour and Lord. Thank You for coming into my life, forgiving me, and making me the kind of person You want me to be. Amen.

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, let no one hesitate to receive the invitation to ask Jesus into our hearts this day. In His name, we pray. Amen.

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