Who do you respect? Anyone? Do you think you are above everyone else? Do you have a high and mighty attitude? What is your vision of the future? Have you planned out the steps you need to climb to move up the cultural ladder? Are you seeking to undermine someone to make that climb?
Respect. Something we all want. Unfortunately, we do not give it to others as we should. We often think of ourselves as being better than others. Maybe because of our education level, which means less and less each day. Our vision of success will ultimately lead to our downfall.
Jesus tells a parable about a landowner who planted a vineyard and hired tenants to tend to it. The landowner sent servants to collect what was due him at harvest time. Though he made multiple attempts, the tenants beat, killed, and stoned his servants. Finally, he sent his son, thinking they would respect him. No, tenants decided to kill the heir, thinking they would inherit the land. When Jesus asked the listeners what they thought landowner would do, they responded by saying the landowner would kill the tenants and find new ones.
This parable was told to be an alarm sounding to the Jews. However, it only further angered the Jewish leadership, causing them to want to kill Jesus even more. We can be just like those Jewish leaders. We have been given the opportunity to respect the Son. We are given each day as a gift to honor and worship Him. Still, we often turn our attention to climbing the status ladder of our culture rather than honoring Jesus. It’s all about choices. We can choose Jesus or we can choose the world. We don’t get to have them both.
I pray we all meditate on the parable of the landowner. I pray we see that Jesus is speaking to us as much as He was the Jews. I pray each one of us will choose to honor Jesus every day of our lives. Meditate on God’s Word. See how Jesus is speaking to you. Honor Jesus every day.
Matthew 21:37-38 Then he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’”
