CONTENTMENT
“Parable of the Workers
for the Vineyard”
Matthew
20:8-16 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more.
But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they
began to grumble against the landowner. `These men who were hired last worked
only one hour,' they said, `and you have made them equal to us who have borne
the burden of the work and the heat of the day.' "But he answered one of
them, `Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a
denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the
same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money?
Or are you envious because I am generous?' "So the last will be first, and
the first will be last."
The mother
asked the class, "who hasn't received an invite to my daughter's Birthday
party yet?" One girl in the back of the class raises her hand. The mother
walks over and gives her an invitation to the party being held the next day.
The little girl was overjoyed to be going to the party.
If this had
been an adult the reaction probably would have been different. Questions would
have come to mind. Why was I not asked earlier? An attitude of offense would
have prompted them not to attend. They could have seen the gesture as an
affront to their worthiness. They would have been mad. Unlike the child who was
happy to have been invited at all, the adult is upset over not being asked
first.
God invites
his people at different times. Some are invited after many trials, after many
years. Often they are seen as less worthy than those who have been in the fold
for years. Many remain questionable converts because of their lateness. Our
renewal timetable governs our response to them. Refusing to see them as God’s
little children and we show ourselves to be carbon copies of the day-long
workers in the vineyard.
Prayer:
Father, help me to see in others what you see. Help me to embrace new believers
as you have embraced them. Do not allow me to be blinded by my own position,
but rather help me to see them as children invited into your kingdom party for
your glory. Amen.
