“Behold I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and sup with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20
In my high school French class, our teacher would sit on her desk, speak a phrase in French and say, “Respondez s’il vous plait”. The class was then expected to respond collectively to that question in French. Imagine, if you can, a group of South Georgians responding collectively in French! It was quite a memory. I learned just enough to get by.
My mother always taught us that when you receive an invitation which asks for an RSVP, you respond to it with a “yes” or “no” answer. It was/is considered very rude not to respond -it’s the polite thing to do.
In this world of evites, the RSVP is now “yes”, “no”, or “maybe”. The commitment has ‘wiggle room’ so that you don’t have to give a definitive answer. Times have indeed changed, but a hostess/hosts still deserves a RSVP.
God has asked each of us to RSVP to His promise to dwell in Him and He in us. All we need to do is commit. When we do, we find that Christ will meet us wherever we are and shower us with His love and grace.
In the everyday experiences of life, there are many chances to encounter God, but unless we are open and have RSVP’d to His tug on our life, we will miss them. Author William Barry says, “Whether we are aware of it or not at every moment of our existence we’re encountering God who is trying to catch our attention to draw us into a reciprocal conscious relationship.”
Wherever we are in life, Christ is ready to meet us, accept us, forgive us, and set us free. All He needs is for His invitation to be acknowledged. During this Lenten season, we need to consider a “yes” RSVP to all He freely gives! Our host has a place reserved at His table for each of us.