Focus: The Offer Still Stands (Pt.4)

Text: Mt.11:28

"Come unto me."

Whenever the Lord Jesus Christ says, 'Come', He means it, and it is an invitation for all generations. What He says to one, He is saying to all. The offer still stands.

He gives rest to those who come to Him. He feeds and fellowships with those who come. He restores the lives of those who come. No one who comes to Him ever remains the same. He touches our lives in a most radical and miraculous way. 

We find pardon, peace and freedom with Him. In His presence we regain our sanity and sanctity.

He says to the Jews, "And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life" (Jh.5:40). It is by coming to Christ that we receive the gift of eternal life. No one ever loses anything for coming to Christ. It's all gain. If we fail to come, then we lose the right to life - God's kind of life.

He says again, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink" (Jh.7:37). This is an invitation to those who are thirsty - thirsty for God and all that He has to offer. He calls upon us to come drink with from Him. He is the water of life. He is the wine of eternal joy. He satisfies the longing of the human heart. He quenches the thirst of our souls.

Nothing in this world really satisfies. This world is killing us slowly. We live in a poisoned and poisonous world. The way of this world is the way of death. John says, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever" (1Jh.2:16,17). There you have it. This world gives death and takes away life. It gives what looks like peace, but it's indeed trouble. It gives sorrow and takes away joy. 

The good things of this life never last. Man is daily faced with the perils of sin, sickness, sorrow, fear and death. All evils and devils are having a field day in this world. All the indices are there to show that our world is a failed and failing state. Christ is the only good thing out of our Nazareth of a world. He is the only solution that man has. 

The invitation to come to the Christ is the only way out for all of us. Christ is our answer to this deadly and gloomy world. He is the way out of it. Let's come to Christ now! For those of us who have already come, there is a sense in which the coming is constant and continuous. We must keep coming to Him. The offer still stands.

Bishop Moses E. Peter