A Devotion from William Dawson

Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. 
-John 21:12 kjv

Notice Christ’s fire was kindled before they came. Christ’s fish was already laid on it, and all they had to do was to come and dine. It is all you have to do, all the churches have to do. Didn’t Christ put it so in the parable of the great supper? “Come, for everything is now ready” (Luke 14:17). Is not the last word of Scripture the great invitation? “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” When he says, “Come and dine,” there is enough for each, enough for all, enough for evermore. The same voice speaks even now to your hunger-bitten soul, to your famished heart, “Come and dine” (see John 6:51).

And then there comes one last touch in the beautiful story. While these things happened, the day was breaking. Is there one of us long tossed on sunless seas of doubt, long conscious of failure and disappointment in life? Are there those of us whose sorrow lies deeper than that which is personal—sorrow over our failure in Christ’s work, pain over a life’s ministry for Christ that has known no victorious evangel? Turn your eyes from that barren sea to him who stands on the shore; he will yet make you a fisher of souls. Turn your eyes from that bleak, dark sea of wasted effort where you have fared so ill; it is always dark till Jesus comes, it is always light when he has come. And to each of us he says today, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.”

“Come and dine.” Will you come?