January 23, 2016: Matthew 20 – Day 20

This parable ranks in the top three of my favorite parables.  It is such a great teaching tool.  I use it to show that God is not fair.  That’s right, God is not fair.  If God were fair none of us would have a chance to even get a glimpse of the kingdom of God.  Because God is not fair, we are all given the free gift of salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ.  Fairness in our world means that we get what we deserve.  With God, we get what we don’t deserve.  The free grace offered to us is not anything that we worked for, or anything that we can say in the least bit that we had it coming to us.  Instead, it is grace, it is a gift that we received just because God is good.

Think about the parable and what it means that someone who worked 1 hour got a full day wage, and he was paid first, and someone who worked the normal 12 hour work day received the same full day wage.  The latter received what was agreed upon, what was fair.  The former received way more than he deserved.  When we compare what we receive it is then that we grumble.  When we look around us and see what others have, it is then that we become unhappy.  When we focus on the gifts and the blessings that God gives to us and not be caught up with what others have, then we are satisfied.  I praise God every day that He is not fair.  If He were fair we would all be in a world of hurt.

Today is Snowmageddon, as I affectionately like to call it.  Our puppy had her first venture out in the snow.  Her first venture she hated, she turned around and came back in.  But her second time out we couldn’t get her back in, she loved it!  The snow was over her head and she was jumping all around the yard like a rabbit.  It was such a fun sight to see.  I pray that this journey of the 90 Day Challenge is one where maybe you entered with a little trepidation, unsure if this was really what you were cut out to do.  Now that we are three weeks into it, I pray that you are enthusiastically looking forward to the next day to see what lessons God just might place upon your heart.

The end of this chapter contains a caveat on what it means to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  It is all predicated on our willingness to be servants to others.  “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”  If we would only set our sights on using this as our calling card then our lives would be so much more significant and satisfying.  If we knew that when we left our houses we were on the lookout on how can we be servants to others, I guess it would change our perspective permanently.  The world tells us to leave our houses looking for opportunities to get ahead.  What if we instead looked for opportunities to get other people ahead.