Jeremiah 9-11; Matthew 22:1-22

In Jeremiah the Lord is grieving over the spiritual condition of His people. They practice deception and are boasting about all the wrong things. He would like to see us boast about our relationship with Him and His children. It was not their living conditions as much as it was the condition of their heart that concerned God. They sought direction from wooden idols and feared a statue made of gold, not the God that created the universe. God then appeals to them to return to Him and His covenants and He will restore them. Gods first desire is always restoration. He will restore if we will return to Him. Israel waited too late and God had to demonstrate His power to get them to repent. There is always consequences when we reject the Lord's call to return. Let's be a people of God that does not repeat that cycle. God's plan will bring peace and healing into our lives. Open that door and He will come in and dwell in our hearts and lives.

In Matthew Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a wedding banquet. The king invited guests for His son's wedding and they refused to come. They even killed those who brought the news. Their town was destroyed and the king sent the servants out to the highways and hedges. They were to bring those who the king did not know. There was an open invitation to the wedding feast. Then we see one man get thrown out because he did not wear wedding clothes. The clothes he had on showed he did not honor the things he had been included in. All are invited into the kingdom, and we should honor that gift and reside in the kingdom as God would require. We sometimes come to Christ and want to make our own rules and do things in our own understanding. It is His Kingdom and the Lord reigns here not us.

Then we see them trying to trap Jesus about paying tax to Caesar. "19Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, 20and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" 21"Caesar's," they replied. Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
When that they understood they were created in God's image and belonged to Him. They should give their life back to their creator. God created us to have fellowship with Him. We will find happiness there.