WEDDING CRASHER |If You Only Knew Who He Really Was

“You did what?!!!”

I calmly repeated the news to my husband.

“I kicked the lead singer of Grand Funk Railroad out of our daughter’s wedding.”

“Why would you do something like that?”

Well, two reasons.

#1—He wasn’t invited.

#2—I didn’t know who he was.

At the time, invites and money were limited. I was hanging by an emotional thread.

So pay for a wedding crasher’s drink at our open bar?

Not on your life.

This little oversight has stuck in my husband’s craw for 13 years now.

He’s convinced that if I’d given the celebrity a drink and we’d all gotten to know each other, Mark Farner would have performed an impromptu concert that night.

At the time, I felt my decision was justified. Looking back, I hold deep regrets.

If I only knew who that man was.

If I only knew who asked me for a drink.

If I only knew, I might have been able to ask him for something I never had.

This reminds me of the woman at the well when Jesus showed up uninvited and asked to be served. But this precious woman responded differently than I did.

Maybe she was emotionally drained, maybe a little hungover, and had little left in her tank for all the tasks ahead, too.

Out of nowhere, this stranger appears and asks her for the one thing she couldn’t afford:

To risk being generous with her overwhelmed life.

The woman must have thought: I can’t believe that Man is asking me that! But then Jesus said something that made her pause.

…“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

John 4:10

When Jesus asks us to do, give, or surrender beyond our capabilities, it’s not about the ask.

It’s about Who’s asking.

Because Jesus doesn’t take; He supplies.

God asks us to do the uncomfortable, awkward, and hard so He can invite us to experience the joy of an abundant life.

People, please learn from my mistake.

We don’t know what God’s up to when the unexpected comes out of left field.

We’re so sure it’s gonna be bad.

We think that obedience is gonna cost too much. We think our feet are too tired to go the extra mile.

But if we only remember Who’s doing the asking, we’d reconsider stiff-arming that request. We’d look to our Mighty God before we decide.

Then, we’d ask Him for strength to do what feels impossible. Because the ask is only the beginning of what Jesus wants to do in our lives.

When Jesus prompts you to surrender an unhealthy habit or give up some precious time, He’s not taking.

He’s giving.

This is what the woman at the well experienced firsthand, and so can you.

You don’t have to roll up your sleeves and exhaust yourself first. Open your hand and let Him fill you, so you can do what He asks.

If you only knew.

If you only knew Who asks you to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him, it wouldn’t feel so heavy.

If you only knew Who asks you to offer yourself as a living sacrifice, it wouldn’t feel like the end.

It would be a new beginning.

If you only knew Jesus and the overflowing life He provides, you’d do what the woman at the well did that day.

You’d pour out your heart and let Him refill your life.

From there, you’d run back and invite everyone to the party.

If you only knew Jesus! Come, get to know Him with me!

And now we know.

No matter what Jesus asks us to do, we can ask Him for everything we need to do it with a great big smile on our face.

The stage is set for His glory.

And Jesus is picking up the tab.