| Exodus 10:1-12:13; Matthew 20:1-28; Psalm 25:1-15; Proverbs 6:6-11
“At the end of the day, the owner of the vineyard said to the boss of all the workers, ‘Call the workers and pay them. Start with the last people I hired and end with those I hired first.’When the workers who were hired at five o’clock came to get their pay, each received one coin. When the workers who were hired first came to get their pay, they thought they would be paid more than the others. But each one received one coin. When they got their coin, they complained to the man who owned the land. They said, ‘Those people were hired last and worked only one hour. But you paid them the same as you paid us who worked hard all day in the hot sun.’ But the man who owned the vineyard said to one of those workers, ‘Friend, I am being fair to you. I can do what I want with my own money. Are you jealous because I am good to those people?'” (Matthew 20:8-15)
When you bring this parable over into a spiritual light, you can compare the reward of a person that has been saved for many years against that of someone coming in on their deathbed. Some may feel that the Lord owes them something for the devotion they have showed Him through the years. Why would the Lord save an old hardened sinner and give Him the same reward as an old saint. Simply put, God loves people. I know He makes you feel like you’re His favorite, but He really loves all of His children the same.
In the parable, He made a deal with all workers at every stage of hiring for the same amount. I think it’s telling that the workers who came in last got paid first. Maybe the older employees felt that the owner was getting them out of the way with their one coin so that he could pay them a little more. What a disappointment to discover that not only was the pay the same, but they got theirs last. ARRGGHHH! “Why God? How could you be so unfair.” God doesn’t work on the same “fair” chart that we work on.
Our hearts should be such that we congratulate those who are blessed. Why should we be jealous, our God is big enough to bless all of us at the same time. He’s just good like that. There’s a story about a hamper of crabs. As the crabs try to climb up the side of the basket to freedom, the other crabs at the bottom will try to grab their legs to pull them back down. The moral of the story is – wait for it – don’t be a crab! Don’t bring others down who are trying to go up. Life is hard enough without jealousy attempting to sabotage our efforts. Rejoice in what the Lord has blessed you with. We all receive what we need in order to accomplish the call on our lives. At the very least, if Jesus never did another thing besides saving us, we can still be happy and call ourselves blessed. So, why you being so jealous hater?!
PRAYER:
Father, help us to keep our eyes focused on You knowing that You are fair. I pray for Your body to have grateful hearts. Teach us to lift one another up and to esteem others as better than ourselves. We are a broken, spoiled people Lord. Heal us, change us, fill us with the fresh oil of Your Holy Spirit so we can know truth and effect change. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen. |
