Does jealousy ever creep into your thoughts? Are you sometimes jealous of what someone else receives? Have you considered some situations to be unfair? Have you accused your employer of being unfair? Have you acted in a way that others consider to be unfair?
Our idea of fairness can cause us to deem some situations to be unfair. However, we do not always know everything about the situation. But that doesn’t keep us from becoming jealous, especially if it is in the workplace and we discover someone else received a bigger pay raise.
Jesus uses an employer-worker example to make a point. The employer hires people at different points of the day. Some early in the day. Some in the middle of the day. And some late in the day. The employer decides to pay them all the same. It seems natural to us that those who worked longer would be paid more, just as Jesus points out in the story those who started working early in the morning thought. Yet, Jesus is making a point about God’s reward and him rewarding all the same with eternal life.
Many of us may think those who have worked for God their entire lives will receive more than those who accept Jesus as Lord and Savior late in life. That line of thinking is incorrect. But that doesn’t mean we should delay working for God. We should decide to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and begin working for God as early in our life as possible. We also should continue working for God for as long as we can. Of course, this should not be done out of compulsion but out of our love for God.
I pray we all stop being jealous of others. I pray we understand God’s prerogative to reward as he sees fit. I pray each one of us will begin working for God as soon as possible and continue. Stop being jealous. God will reward as he determines. Begin working for God. Continue working for God.
Matthew 20:13-16 “But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Marty Pressey 