A Seat at God's Table

Have you ever felt out of place?  That strange, sinking feeling that people get when they realize they were picked last for the dodge-ball team maybe?  Or the sudden awareness that you have gone to a party and didn't catch the memo stating it was a formal affair - so you showed up wearing a t-shirt and sneakers?  Whatever the details may have been, I believe it is a truism to say that most people have felt out of place at one time or another.  It's so easy to feel like we don't fit in or don't belong sometimes.  

When we take this analogy into the spiritual arena, you will be relieved to know that membership in the divine family of God isn't the same as walking into a new and unfamiliar place here on Earth.  It is less intimidating, I think.  In fact, Jesus often talked about the importance of declaring affiliation with himself and the Father.  John 15:5 says, "I [Jesus] am the vine; you are the branches.  If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."  We might learn from this I think, that it is much better to be part of the vine … part of the grand design that is the Holy Trinity.  Better to affiliate and claim membership to that which is life-giving and sustainable.  After all, no one wants to be 'pruned' out of the main vine, right?

There is another curious theme that runs through the New Testament.  Jesus tells a number of parables relating to the kingdom of heaven by way of the banquet metaphor.  We are told that the Lord will welcome His guests into His house and provide them a seat at the "banquet table."  We are also told not to seek out the most important and affluent chair at the table, but rather to remain humble and sit with the other guests.  We are simply to be grateful just to be there and enjoy the food.  It's much easier to fit in that way.  

We have now this portrait before us.  There will be an amazing wedding banquet someday.  It will consist of those who are invited, if they choose to come.  The parable says that many will give excuses as to why they cannot attend.  They are busy with work or other obligations.  These declarations will all fall flat on that great day by the way.  But for the guests at the feast who show up, the entrees served will be love and acceptance - they will have a seat at the table reserved just for them.  No more feeling out of place.  They have accepted salvation by faith through grace from the Son of God. 

The born-again Christian has assurance that eternity will be spent with a loving God, in a mansion with many rooms, and a seat reserved just for you at the table.  There will be no more loneliness, confusion, or feeling out of place.  No more pain or suffering; that will be the old order of things.  Instead, we get to live forever in a type of fulfilled abundance that we have never known before.  We will be accepted and loved.  We will belong.  

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