I Do You No Injustice

 "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." (NLT) But 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 and 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 grumble too! Working the vineyard is hard work. 

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 invited to work in God's vineyard! And even if we worked for twelve hours or one, we will never deserve the reward God offers for working for Him.

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!