INVITATION OR TICKET?

“FOR MANY ARE CALLED, BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN.”  Matthew 22:14

            My family and I received two invitations to the graduation exercises at our high school.  They were both from friends, but we weren’t immediate family of either one.  There was a special area at the front that was set apart for those members of the graduates’ families who had tickets.  We had invitations, but we didn’t have tickets. 

            Every person has an invitation to come to Jesus Christ and to be received into Heaven, but only a few have “tickets”.  If we want a ticket, we must accept the invitation and be born into God’s family.  Many people like to rub shoulders with Christians and even talk like them sometimes.  They may even read their Bible, but they aren’t part of the family.  They have not turned from their sins and committed themselves completely to Jesus.  I know you have an invitation; but the most important questions is, “Do you have a ticket?”

CHALLENGE TO CHANGE: “Am I just trying to act like a Christian, or have I had a real heart change that has produced a total change in my lifestyle?”
Salvation is more than repeating a few words.  It is a spiritual resurrection by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.  When we are born again, there is a radical change inside and out.