TEXT: Luke 14:15-24

One story in our Bible is about a man who was going to have a big supper. He was so excited when the supper was finally ready. The very best food had been prepared. Many special people had been invited and his servant had gone to tell them, “The supper is ready. Come.”

But wait! What message did the servant bring back to the man? No one was coming! Why?

One man would not come because he had bought some property and wanted to go and see it.

Another man wanted to see about some oxen which he had bought.

Still another man had just married a wife and said he could not come.

Everyone the servant spoke to made an excuse not to come.

The man had gone to a lot of work to prepare the supper and now that it was finally ready, not one of his friends wanted to come!

The man was very angry. He did not want this special supper to be wasted! He told his servant to go out and invite other people to his great supper. They were not to invite just the beautiful, smart, rich people. They were to invite everyone who would come. That meant they were to invite the poor people and those who were blind or crippled. There was room for many people at the supper. But there was no room for anyone who made excuses.

Many people came to that rich man’s great supper. But there was no one there who had made an excuse.

Jesus is preparing a special supper for us. It will be in Heaven. Sometime very soon He will come back and take us to that special supper. He has invited everyone! But just like the story in our Bible, if we make excuses we will not be able to go. We can accept the invitation by telling Jesus that we love Him. We must ask Him to take all the sin out of our heart. Then we will be ready to go to His special supper when He comes for us.

Primary-age children have already learned—and in some cases perfected—the art of making excuses. While this is a normal phase of childhood, this lesson should make clear to your child the danger of offering excuses to God. Our story tells of a man who made a great supper, but those invited made excuses. Because of this they missed their only opportunity to attend the great supper.

Help your child make two paper-bag puppets that can be used to illustrate the story, or perhaps to dramatize some excuses in present-day situations. Place two lunch sacks in front of him with the bottoms of the bags facing up. Let him draw a face on each sack, placing the mouth of his puppet so part of it is above the fold and part of it below. As you use the puppets, guide him in making up situations which illustrate unwise excuses.

FAMILY DEVOTIONS