Get out of your usual circles

Luke 14:21-23 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel [them] to come in, that my house may be filled.

There's something to learn from the rich man in our theme scripture.  It's not the friends of his who came to the party or his relatives but the unusual.  It was the people on the streets,  lame, the non cultured kind. It is not God who doesn't want to have the dignified in the church, it is the dignified who don't want Him! So shall the mission of God's salvation be hindered because they do not come, no way! We rather have the outcasts of society, impoverished and the down and outs fill the churches and advance the mission! 

Sometimes when God calls us into ministry,  the first people we think who will join us on that journey are our family and friends. But that's not usually the case. Your church members or those who will believe in your vision are out there in the harvest field.  In fact they will be more family and more of your friends when they join you in the mission of God.  There's a reality you need to embrace early in your walk as a Christian,  you will have to lose, sacrifice and die to certain things. If you cannot imagine losing touch with your former company to embrace the new company that God is going to add to you, you won't do much for God. If you cannot imagine going full-time to serve God,  to plant a church someday or go for missions, you won't do much for the Lord. 

There are people that God has prepared who will celebrate you and not merely tolerate you. One thing I have come to learn even though it seems tough to take in is that you should learn to go where you are celebrated, and not where you are tolerated. Your usual friends in their heart of hearts even when they don't tell you openly,  your usual circle of friends will think you have run mad. They will think you are going to waste time, with people who won't pay you back for your time and efforts. One time a colleague I was working with at the same workplace told me how he couldn't serve so much in church because he is aware of the expense that goes with it. He continued to tell me that many churches attract needy people and the pastor is always inclined to help them out, a thing he couldn't afford to. What such a one does and what many do is to keep company with the well-to do who won't burden them with financial needs. Christians want to think in those terms and get hindered from doing much for God because they are keeping up appearances. 

What will make you wake up is when you mobilise people for a Christian event you or your church or missional family has organised just like the rich man in the parable and none of your usual friends, workmates, relatives may not turn up! If they do, they can sometimes turn up at the start but won't commit for a long haul. If that doesn't inspire you to go out to those who don't know you, you will not grow your missional family or the church in your care. 

The poor, children, helpless, and the unsual are ready to receive you if you incline your heart toward them, go out to meet and invite them!