In wedding invitations, you will likely see these four letters –RSVP (Répondez s’il vous plait) or please reply to this request for confirmation if you will be attending or not. The invitation card is your passport to the occasion.
You can also get invited to a gathering if you receive a personal call or if you get a message through social media channels like Facebook or Twitter.
But what happens if you don’t get invited especially to an event attended by society’s most influential people or the VIPs of your company? Do you move heaven and earth to make sure you get on the guest list?
To be among VIPs and bigwigs benefits a person’s ego. It’s a good story to tell friends later. Many people would do anything to be seen with “big” people. .
Do we also care about getting the greatest invitation on earth? It’s in the first verse in the 15th chapter of the Psalms of The Message Bible where God is asked, “God, who gets invited to dinner at your place? How do we get on your guest list?”
An invitation to heaven is the ultimate passport to enjoy God’s presence. Are we working on how to get accepted there?
As always, the Holy Bible contains the answers —answers to faith, love, failures, dreams, confusion and whatever there is to life.
To the question on how do we get on God’s guest list to Heaven, the following verses in Psalm 15 tells us:
2 “Walk straight, act right, tell the truth.
3-4 “Don’t hurt your friend, don’t blame your neighbor; despise the despicable.
5 “Keep your word even when it costs you, make an honest living, never take a bribe. You’ll never get blacklisted if you live like this.”
Ouch! Blacklisted! I don’t want that to happen to me or to anyone else. It’s like being doomed to never-never land.
Read the four verses again. They are simple to understand but I know they can be very hard to follow.
Tell the truth? Don’t hurt, blame or hate anyone? Never take a bribe? Wow, it does talk of real life…of today! The Bible is real and surpasses time. It is an old book but God’s wisdom is forever and holds true then and now.
But nothing is impossible with God. Though we commit these acts time and again (no one is spared, we are all guilty), God’s grace is for everyone toreceive. It is freely given but we have to work for it and only if God wills that His grace be upon us to help us be worthy.
2 “Walk straight, act right, tell the truth.” Do what Jesus would do (WJWD) when you’re caught in a situation where you don’t know whether to tell the truth or not.
3-4 “Don’t hurt your friend, don’t blame your neighbor; despise the despicable.” Accept responsibility for the mishaps, own up to faults and focus more on how we contributed to the problem. This way, we don’t point fingers but manifest love.
5 “Keep your word even when it costs you, make an honest living, never take a bribe.” Some people say there are no bribes if no one accepts them. Again, go back to verses 3-4. Refrain from the blame-game. The briber and the recipient are both in the game. One is not holier than the other. Neither shall receive an invitation to heaven either.
As I said, it can be very difficult to do God’s conditions in these four verses but we definitely should try. By God’s grace, we can do it.
The invitation to heaven has been there since the creation of the world. It’s one thing to accept it and another to work for it so that on the grand day of God’s reunion with all of His people, our names are on the guest list. God made it even surer for us. He has our names written down. “See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands”. (Isaiah 49:16) and that’s an assurance that we are indeed meant to be with God one day.
All we need to do is get back to His invitation with our response — RSVP — by acting right on earth, tell the truth, love and be honest.
Parties and social events of the world pale in comparison to the celebration in heaven. So let’s all try to get invited there!