Jesus, I begin today thanking you for your love, grace and mercy that constantly surrounds me.
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he *said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ They *said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He *said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’
“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard *said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’ When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’ So the last shall be first, and the first last.”(Matthew 20:1-16)
Lord Jesus, Your generosity is amazing to the extreme. “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” (John 1:16). You give us gift after gift. The extravagance of your generosity, your grace, troubled those in the passage above, and at times it troubles me. There is nothing “fair” about your generosity. All receive the full measure of your love, grace and mercy whether they come to Christ as a child or on their death bed. It was not until I was 34 years old that I fell in love with You, and when I did the gates of heaven opened up, my Father in Heaven declared, “This is my son in which I am well pleased.” I received the gift of eternal life in the eternal embrace of love of the Father.
Because of this, what more do I desire? What more can I ask for? How can I not share or jealously withhold this gift from another? I serve You daily not out of obligation or to earn or receive more of Your love, because right now at this moment Your love for me is complete and Your delight in me is ravishing. So my service to You Jesus flows out of my worship for you for you are worthy of it all.
“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. This I command you, that you love one another.” (John 15:12-17)
My family, I pray this morning you remember that no matter what time in your life, early or late, you entered the vineyard of Lord, it was out of the generosity of Jesus that He sought you out and saw you first. That He chose you. That He made known to You the very heart of the Father. That you are called out of a heart of worship to go into the market places, and love those you encounter there and bear fruit. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers and today’s reading with us in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community/Toney UMC
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
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Thanks You!
