There is a scene in the Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe where Mr. Tumnus is speaking with Lucy and says, “After all, He’s not a tame lion” and Lucy replies with, “No, but He is good.” 

I think of this often when I catch myself drifting back into a “tame” view of Jesus. It often feels easier or more secure to follow a “safe Jesus,” but that perspective brings with it a “small Jesus”. 

The enemy is smart. He knows what our hearts long for as well as what we fear, and he desires to trip us up with wrong invitations. Let’s look a little closer at what it means to “invite”. 

Invite – v – to request the presence or the participation of something, to act so as to bring on or cause to happen, to proclaim, to entertain; to call forth or give occasion for; to attract, allure, entice, or tempt. 

With that in mind… 

What are you inviting into your life? 

What are you proclaiming over your life? 

What thoughts are you entertaining in your mind? 

What are you requesting the presence of in your life? 

What is Jesus inviting you into? 

So often, we find ourselves with so much negativity being proclaimed over our lives. That may look like doubts, mistakes, failures, and regrets. However, Jesus bore all of that on Himself on the cross. He took the penalty, and in doing so, turned aside God’s judgment officially canceling out sin. 

That invitation from Jesus brings with it: faith, freedom, healing, hope, redemption, new life, destiny, and so much more. 

Jesus isn’t tame, or small or mild or safe. He is so much bigger than I think, so much better than I imagine and so good. For me, I need to regularly hear and heed my invitation to the free banquet of grace. 

Which brings us to a question: What is the Bible about? Is it about what I must do? Is it about what I CAN’T do? 

Or is it about what Jesus has already done? 

Jesus gives us an invitation to follow the trajectory of the entire text of Scripture back to Himself. He shows how He is the ultimate fulfillment, and He offers us a free invitation. 

In Luke 24, we see that two men were on a journey, after the Resurrection, to a village named Emmaus and were discussing all of the current events that had just happened with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. As they were walking, Jesus Himself approached them and began walking with them. 

“Their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.” Jesus, being His funny self, asked them what they were talking about. So they proceed to tell Jesus everything that had just happened but that they didn’t fully know why it had happened because they thought that He was going to save Israel from Rome. They didn’t really realize what was going on in their time and the full magnitude of what had actually happened. 

Let’s read on in verse 27, “Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” 

Jesus walks the two men through the entire Bible and shows how it points to Him as Savior. But they don’t fully get it until they sit down to eat and Jesus has Communion with them. Then “their eyes were opened and they recognized Him.” Jesus walked them through the fullness of His story. From Genesis to the Resurrection, History (His story) points to Jesus. 

In order for them to be able to understand grace, they had to understand two things, and we do too. 

1. Understanding to the best of our comprehension, the debt we faced.

I heard an analogy of this the other day: 

“If I say, the other day a bill was delivered to you and I paid it for you, until I know how big the bill was I wouldn’t know how to respond. If it was just a letter that came with postage due and you spent a few cents or a dollar or two, I would simply say, “Well, thank you very much.” 

But if it was that bill I was dreading from the IRS with hundreds of thousands of dollars of back taxes… I don’t know how to respond or how happy to be until I know how big that debt was. 

If someone says, I believe Jesus died for my sins and I received Him as my Savior, yet they are living under their old identity, shame, and condemnation they may not yet understand the magnitude of what Jesus did for them. 

Jesus gives us a beautiful invitation, one that requests His presence, and His participation in our daily life. We can proclaim His name, His grace over our lives. We can entertain thoughts of His goodness, of His love. 

2. Can we comprehend the magnitude and sufficiency of the provision that Jesus provided for us? 

Not only did Jesus die the death I should have died, but ALSO He lived the life I should live. If He only died the death I should have died, it just clears my debt, and then leaves me on my own. But if you realize that He lived the life I should have lived AND died the life I should have died, then not only were my sins put upon Him, but His perfect righteousness and record was put on me as well. 

This is the good news of the invitation that has been extended to us through the person and work of Jesus. 

Jesus can’t be shrunk down to fit our small beliefs. His invitation to you is so much bigger and full of so much more than you could ever imagine. 

“Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine, and milk. Without money and without cost. “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance. “Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, according to the faithful mercies shown to David.” Isaiah 55:1-3

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