Can a command also be an invitation?
This is the question I’ve been pondering.

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I love invitations. They offer a choice. Commands sometimes threaten. Am I able to fulfill them?

According to Hebrews 4:12, “… the word of God is living and active…” Do I read like I trust that? If the Word is living, does that mean I can have a conversation with God?

Or am I reading words on page that may or may not relate to where I’m living today? Am I reading merely to check off my Bible reading chart? Am I reading because that is what a good Christian is expected to do? Am I looking for something or am I listening to the God of the universe, the God who calls me His child? The God who invites.

Looking or listening?

I’m realizing my reactions, my questions, my communication with God as I answer the above questions speak to my desire and experience as I read.

Recently I listened to a sermon on John 15:1-17. If this parable is familiar to you, you know  that the point of this parable is fellowship with God. (All parables have one main point.) It is the last of Jesus’s “I Am” statements. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.” John 15:1.

The word abide might have jumped into your mind. It’s used 11 times in the first 17 verses of John 15 in the ESV. In the NLT and the NIV, abide is translated remain. The Message rendition of this passage further clarifies with the terms, live in me, make your home in me, being joined to me, remain intimately at home in my love.

So how do I understand abide? Is it a command? Is it an invitation? Is it both? What does it look like to obey?

“If you abide in me,
and my word abide in you,
ask whatever you wish,
and it will be done for you.”
John 15:7

It is a command. But I’m thinking this command is also an invitation to mature (verses 8 & 11), to experience answered prayer (verse 7), to be aware of God’s love (verse 9), and to experience joy (verse 11).

God is offering me an invitation, a choice.

So I might ask, God what does it look like for me today to stay intimately connected to you? (The Message) How can I abide in you? What does it mean for your words to abide in me? (ESV) What does it mean for me to remain? (NIV) What invitation are you offering me today?

I think I’m being invited into conversation and into a deeper friendship with God. It seems to me that this command is an invitation.

Could that be true with other commands in the scriptures? Might my obedience show I’m responding to God’s invitations? I want to abide, to remain, to be intimately at home in His love!
I want to grow my relationship with God.

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For many years I’ve prayed the words of Psalm 112. “Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments!” (verse 1) Fearing the LORD could also be translated, walking appropriately in the presence of God. So one who fears the Lord is one who is walking appropriately with God by taking great delight in his commandments. I can’t think of a better way to show God that I delight in His commands than to view those commands as invitations for deeper connection with Him.

“I’m challenged to read the imperatives (the commands) of scriptures
as invitations to enjoy my identity as the beloved child of God; to walk with Jesus.”
Russell Moore

I’d love to know your thoughts.

Copyright: Sue Tell, March 2025