Invitation helps the Christian develop one of the fruits of the spirit, self-control. The meaning of Self-Control in Scripture in Galatians is “the mastery of one’s desires and impulses.”

Invitation reveals that the vast majority of the church currently lacks self-control. Our microwave oven culture where we can have our food within a couple of minutes, is a symptom of a deeper malaise where we want instant results now. In invitation we can experience rejection. How we respond to this shows whether self-control is being produced. For the person with self-control receiving a no to one’s invitation does not put them off asking again, or asking another person. For the person without self-control a negative response is a devastating blow which they will not put themselves through again.

One might contrast today’s church with the early church. The early church were persecuted, beaten, imprisoned, driven from their homes, stoned, and killed yet they kept on inviting people to take part in the Way. Today one person says no to us and we are never going to invite again!

Winston Churchill said “success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm” In the same way invitation gives the Christian the opportunity of experiencing rejections and through them see the fruit of self-control emerge.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 23rd, 2012 at 9:24 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.