RSVP – Please Respond

I know what it means when I receive an invitation with these four letters on it – RSVP. I guess I made up its meaning… I thought it meant: “Please Respond Verifying Presence”. It actually comes from the French culture and language. It is an abbreviation for: “Répondez s’il vous plaît” and it simply means: “Please respond”. I learned something new today.

I was reading in Revelation and I’m finally near the end after a week of vacation and unplugging. I usually let specific passages saturate my thinking. This one really moved my heart because I believe the theme of Revelation is “be ready”.  I read about the scene around the judgement. The way I live today is actually how God’s RSVP works. Check this out….

¹¹ And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. ¹² I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. ¹⁴ Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. ¹⁵ And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11-15 NLT)

I think that our culture has heard this and adopted a policy of “doing good stuff”. We seem to think that the “doing part” is all there is to it. I think our RSVP is much more than just doing things. I believe that my deeds come from deep within my heart. If I have “deed issues”, then it can be traced back to my heart issues. If I have “language issues”, then I have a heart issue. I firmly believe that all my behavior comes from my heart, where it pre-meditated or not. I also believe that the Lord is way more interested in the heart that is producing the deeds than just the deeds themselves. My heart is the place where motive is formed. If I do good deeds out of self-centered and vain motives, then I’m only serving myself. If I will do good deeds because I feel the Lord calling me to do them, then He is honored.

I firmly believe that my RSVP to the Lord regarding His invitation is much more than just doing good and going to church. He really wants my heart to be devoted to Him. He wants my heart to want what His heart wants. He wants me to love like He loves. He wants my life to revolve around His call upon my life rather than running to the top ahead of everyone else. Each day when I spend time in His word, talk with Him in prayer and walk with Him throughout my day, I’m “RSVP’ing” to His call upon my life for a heavenly home.

Pressing On!

Dwayne