Today's Bible reading is the 14th chapter of the Book of Luke. You can read it here at Bible Gateway: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+14&version=NASB

In verses 16 through 24 of today's chapter we read what is ofter referred to as the parable of the dinner. When the "dinner hour" arrived, we see that the one giving the dinner sends out his slave to tell the invited guests to come "for everything is ready now". The fist one responds by saying, "I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.". The text tells us that "they all alike began to make excuses" for not coming to the dinner. The parable includes three different excuses that were given by invited guests for not being able to come to the dinner. The "excuses" mentioned each appear to have had some sense of legitimacy to the ones giving them. One had bought a piece of land and needed to go look at it. Another had bought five yoke of oxen and was going to try them out. And the other had married a wife and could not come. The parable reminds me of the many excuses that we give for not being faithful in the assembling together with other believers or for not being about the ministry that our gracious Lord has provided for us. Selfishly we can say in our hearts or with our mouths, "please consider me excused" and consider our reasons for not doing that which the Lord would have us do as legitimate. Don't get me wrong, there are clearly times when it is God's will that we not do a particular thing because He would have us do another at that particular time. But may we be discerning and not fall into a pattern where we are oftentimes considering ourselves excused from what the Lord would have us do so that we might be about our own business and not His.