Including through invitation

12 Then he turned to his host.“When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. 13 Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.”

-Luke 14:12-14

The invitation of the Lord is for everyone, not for the people that we normally think it should be for.  It is amazing how we make judgements on who should be included in our lives, or to what extent they should be included.  Jesus is asking us to invite the uninvited - to open up the best of our lives for the "worst" of people.  Jesus, I ask you today to show me where I need to do this.  What people are you asking me to include?  How can I be more inclusive?  How can my capacity for people increase?  At the end of my life, I wish to be one who's reward is greater than just the obvious or natural outcomes of my "easy" circle of relationships.

Jesus, today, I ask that I would be someone who is focused on you.  As a result, may I bring others into your presence and into your light.  I ask that you would use me to be a light into the darkness of the abandoned, the forgotten and the overlooked.  I pray that I would actively include all around me to your kingdom.  I pray that i would choose to be sensitive to your leading.  I pray that I would be sensitive enough to not miss what you are doing.  Lord, give me a sweet and engaging spirit.  may I be like you are - loving and inviting and caring and able to speak into every life.  Holy Spirit, fill me today.