Today, when I was going to paint on my Bible,
I saw that there is already a painting on the page.
I decided to just add notations at the margins.
"I do you no injustice." Matthew 20:13
Is God unjust? If we measure Him against human standards,
He certainly is. In Isaiah 55:8, the Lord tells us,
"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,
and My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine."
(New Living Translation) B
ut the wonderfully amazing thing is He wants us to get to know Him.
He wants us to become like Him.
And that is why we have the Bible,
the story of how an awesome God calls us to be His own,
calls us to be His people.
He is so generous, He wants to share
His wealth of wisdom, peace, love, joy,
and then ultimately eternal life
in His Kingdom, with us, mere servants!
In the parable Jesus tells in Matthew 20,
there is an owner of a vineyard who
indiscriminately calls anyone to work for him.
He invites workers at the start of the work day a
nd says he will pay them the daily wage.
Then he hires workers at midday,
then at 3 o'clock, then at the 11th hour,
one hour before all work finishes.
He pays the workers who worked for one hour the daily wage.
He paid the same amount to those who worked for more hours.
The workers hired for the whole day complained.
Perhaps we would do the same.
Working in the vineyard is hard work.
I am sure the sun was hot, and the work is back breaking.
But what if the daily wage was eternal life?
Is there anything more valuable than fullness of life that is eternal?
That is God's promise for all the workers of His vineyard.
As long as we serve Him, follow Him,
love Him and His people, that is what we will get at the 12th hour.
And just like the owner of the vineyard,
God calls us all, the intelligent, the not so intelligent, the shy,
the sick, the lame, the poor, the sinner, the drug addict,
the prisoner, the drug lord, the corrupt politician, everyone!
We are all worthy to work in God's vineyard!
Lord, thank You for the opportunity to work in Your vineyard.
We are all imperfect people with our own unique flaws and weaknesses,
yet You do not give up on us. Help us to see others with Your eyes,
and to love them and be generous like You!
Let me tell you about my dad
who is turning 90 tomorrow.
Even at 90 years old, he is still curious,
still planning many things, still learning!
He likes to watch videos on the internet
about new machines, and new ideas.
Up to now, he is still busy in our family business,
Happy birthday, daddy!
I want to be like you when I'm 90 years old!
Joining the lovely Julia Dunnit for a
peek at desks and projects!
I find a lot of inspiration
visiting my friends here:
Mondays @ Soul Survival
Small Wonders, Testimony Tuesday, Titus 2 Tuesdays,
Count Your Blessings, Word Art Wednesday, Wildly Original
Small Wonders, Testimony Tuesday, Titus 2 Tuesdays,
Count Your Blessings, Word Art Wednesday, Wildly Original
Blessings!
Patsy
Happy birthday to your Dad - how lucky you are to have him and how brilliant he is too! Lovely post Patsy.
ReplyDeleteMorning Patsy. happy birthday to your dad. My own father is now 95 - living in a care home now, as he cannot look after himself any longer. How precious when people continue to take an interest in life and all around them.
ReplyDeleteTake care. God bless.
Margaret #6
Wishing you dad a wonderful birthday. What a blessing to still have him in your life.
ReplyDeletesandra de @11
Happy birthday to your Dad,
ReplyDeleteGreat drawings
Lilian B# 16
Lovely illustration as ever there Patsy and nice reminder of that passage. Happy that you still have your dad - have a great day x Jackie 18
ReplyDeleteYour pages are always so inspiring
ReplyDeleteand hopeful. I really need to come back later tonight and read your pages to get
strangth.
Thank you for sharing your work and FAITH in God.
Please pray for me.
I´m so afraid because
they are going to remove my ovaries.
My mother and grandmother had cancer.
Blessings,
SusanLotus nr 20 WOYWW.
Happy birthday to your Dad.. blessings from Kent, UK
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to you Dad!! May he be blessed with many more years of an active life!
ReplyDeletePatsy, Thank you for always sharing the Word and your art with us!!
Your page is wonderful, as always. Love the picture of your dad. Have a fantastic and blessed Wednesday! LisaDV #26
ReplyDeletehappy returns and many of 'em to your dear Papa, my word how super to have an active and inquisitive friend like him in the business, I just love that picture! So are you finding you've done a whole 'rotation' of drawing in your bible, or is this just a particular page I wonder. Love the notations.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Dad! I miss mine terribly.
ReplyDeleteI love your Bible drawings and your words are a powerful reminder of a fair and just God!
Hugs,
Chris P # 25
I love that picture of your dad mimicking the statue. It is so nice that he is still so playful and he certainly does not look 90.
ReplyDeleteYour painting is beautiful and what a great devotional thought. I was reading the priestly blessing in Numbers 6:24-26 this morning and meditating on how it is Papa God's desire to bless, protect and show kindness to me.
Yesterday I traced a photo of my husband blowing his new shofar onto the pages in my bible (Leviticus) and then painted it with water colours. Guess who inspired me to do that? :)
Blessing hugs,
Teresa