Luke 14:16
“Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:”
Bidding is simply putting an offer on something so you can own it. When you go to buy a used car, you will put in a bid hoping they will accept the offer. When purchasing a house, you will make a bid to the owner in hopes that he will accept the amount of your bid. The amount of a bid will show your motivation to possess that item. If you are not willing to go high on your bid, then you want it, but not that much. On the other hand, when you make a bid that goes above the value of the item, you are showing that you’re willing to pay any price to obtain it.
God said that a man made a bid for people to come to a supper. When the bid was made, there were three types of excuses given as to why they couldn’t come. The first excuse was possessions. The man who bought a piece of property used it as an excuse for not coming to the supper. The second excuse was employment. A man bought some oxen and wouldn’t come because he wanted to test them out. The third excuse was relationships. A man got married and he wanted to spend time with his wife. We could discuss the seriousness of these excuses, but I believe God was showing us the excuses we will encounter when making a bid for souls.
Let me first warn that you must be careful not to allow excuses to stop you from bidding for the the souls of people. Excuses are going to come, but you can’t stop bidding for their soul. Their soul will either go to Heaven or Hell. As a Christian, we should be so concerned for their soul that we will continue to bid for their soul. If that soul were your family member, you would want someone to discard their excuses and continue making a bid for their soul. When possessions are their excuse, come back when they are not with their possessions. When employment is their excuse, then find a way around their employment schedule to witness to them. When relationships are their excuse, then find a time when they are not spending time with family to witness to them. Don’t let excuses stop your bidding for the souls of men.
Let me take this another direction. Don’t ever stop bidding for your family. The world is after the heart of your children, and you must not let them win the bid for your child’s heart. On a daily basis you need to bid for the heart of your child. Likewise, don’t ever stop making a bid for the success of your marriage. When your marriage is struggling, keep making a bid for it to succeed.
Moreover, don’t ever stop bidding on your nation. When you think your nation is lost, keep making a bid for the soul of your nation. Many of the prophets of old kept making a bid for their nation even when they knew God was going to judge it. Until the judgment of God falls on your nation, you need to continue to bid for the soul of your nation. Make a bid through preaching, soul winning, prayer and training Christians to live right. Don’t let the excuses your nation gives cause you to stop bidding for it.
Yes, excuses are always going to be a part of people turning down your bids, but you cannot take it personally. When the excuses come, find a way around the excuses and keep trying to win over their soul. Always remember that the soul you are bidding for is someone’s relative, and they don’t want you to give up.