Post by Cindy on Nov 14, 2024 12:27:20 GMT -5
Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? (MATTHEW 20:15)
Please read the parable in Matthew 20:1–16.
God’s reward is out of all proportion to our service and sacrifice. In the kingdom of heaven, God’s reward system is based not on merit but on grace, and grace always gives far more than we have “earned.” As R. C. H. Lenski wrote, “The generosity and the magnanimity of God are so great that he accepts nothing from us without rewarding it beyond all computation.… The vast disproportion existing between our work and God’s reward of it already displays his boundless grace, to say nothing of the gift of salvation which is made before we have even begun to do any work.”
In the parable Jesus told in Matthew 20:1–16, a landowner was progressively more generous with each group of workers he hired throughout the day. Each worker, regardless of how long he’d worked, received a day’s wages. He received not what he’d earned on an hourly basis, but what he needed to sustain his family for a day. The landowner chose to pay them according to their need, not according to their work. He paid according to grace, not debt.
The parable focuses particularly on those workers hired at the eleventh hour. They were treated extremely generously, each one receiving twelve times what he’d earned on a strict hourly basis. They’d been standing all day waiting for someone to hire them so they could earn money to support their families. They needed employment more than the landowner needed their services. He hired them, not because of his need, but their need. He represents God in His gracious awareness of our needs and His continuous work to meet them.
God calls us to serve Him, not because He needs us, but because we need Him.
Holiness Day by Day
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