Picture a home owner looking for day laborers to help with a project on their property, recruiting at their local home improvement store. But, instead of a home owner, Jesus described a landowner hiring workers for his vineyard. Beginning early in the morning, he contracted with workers for the standard wage of a “denarius” (Matthew 20:2 ESV). The employer returned at nine o’clock, noon, three o’clock, and five o’clock with the offer, “Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you” (20:4 KJV). The “eleventh hour” (20:9) was five o’clock. At the end of the day, the landowner paid everyone the same wage, to the chagrin of those who had worked the longest and hardest. Consider: (1) availability of employment: matches the willingness of the workers, (2) immediacy of employment: now, (3) scope of employment: vineyard of God’s kingdom, (4) wages of employment: agreed upon by both parties, (5) dissension of the employees: fairness based solely upon consideration of self, (6) character of employer: “generous” (20:26 NET), and (7) sovereignty of the employer: “the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen” (20:16 KJV). LORD, we could not ask for a better employer than You, since we are that Eleventh Hour Laborer at the end. But, help us not to grumble, if You should tarry Your return. May we be found with our hand on the plow not looking back. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Unconventional Christianity
The LORD Is My Shepherd
We are supposed to take responsibility for ourselves, but that doesn’t mean we necessarily know what is best. Have you ever gone shopping for what you thought you needed only to find nothing seemed to fit your situation? Being “led by the Spirit” (Romans 8:14 KJV) might mean leaving the store without purchasing. Wasteful of time? Perhaps, but better to acknowledge the lack of appropriateness of your purchasing than to force a square peg into a round hole. How to prevent that? Be more in a frame of mind and attitude of prayer. LORD, shepherd me to where You want me to be, do what You want me to do, think what You want me to think, and appreciate You in a way that I never knew. In Jesus’ name, amen. “The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He takes me to lush pastures, He leads me to refreshing water” (Psalms 23:1-2 NET).
What Is A Christian?
Willingness to obey Christ is to be a Christian. “If any man [Greek, tis, anyone] will do His will, he shall know” (John 7:17 KJV). Anyone who is willing to do God’s will, that is the key to being a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether we like it or not, we possess the status of being in the image of God by virtue of His creating us that way, but we can only possess Christlikeness through our willingness to do His will. “And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them” (Ezekiel 36:27). His desire for us has always been we would desire Him as much as He desires us. The Holy Spirit was given by Christ to cause us to be willing. For us, believing (Acts 16:31), repenting (Acts 3:19), confessing Jesus as Lord (Romans 10:9), giving up everything (Luke 14:33), being baptized as a loyalty oath (Acts 2:38) are certainly necessary, but a willing heart is our greatest gift to Him and His chief enjoyment of us. LORD, make it so. In Jesus’ name, amen.
How to Accomplish Something Good
“A Wasted Life” is not what any of us want memorializing us once we’ve departed this life, but our desire for recognition needs to be squarely placed at the feet of our Master. “His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matthew 25:21,23 KJV). Do you have a pet whose chief desire is your attention and approbation? A wagging tail and a doggie smile when they have been acknowledged? We’re more like that than we realize. Atta boy! Good girl! Not condescending for our pets, but we’re loved better by our Master than we treat our favored, time absorbing balls of fur. May we elevate our understanding of our relationship to the LORD, when He holds communion with us and explains to us what he is trying to accomplish with our existence. Who wouldn’t love such a Master! LORD, may we give back to You the love You have shown to us. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Christ In You
“Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27 KJV). What can be more balanced and sound of doctrine and practice than “in all things [Christ] might have the preeminence” (1:18)? ‘Fundamentalists’ stress soundness of doctrine about Christ. Getting people saved would be their primary goal. By comparison, the ‘other evangelicals’ stress developing a relationship with Christ. Discipling converts would be their emphasis. Both are essential. Christianity is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (1:27) with soundness of doctrine about Christ’s saving and continually sanctifying grace. The Pharisees did get right the need for obedience to God’s law, but they strained at a gnat and swallowed a camel because they forgot Yahweh wanted a people, who knew Him. “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6). Automatons who obeyed without heart were not desirable. “And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them” (Ezekiel 36:27). May our God receive for Himself a people walking in loving obedience with an ever increasing understanding of Him. Amen.
Cure for Fear
“What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee” (Psalm 56:3 KJV). Better than whistling a happy tune, because the One we trust is greater than anything that can harm us. David didn’t stop there, but went on. “In God I will praise His word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me” (56:4). In God We Trust may only sound like an advertising slogan minted on coins, but true confidence in God is deceptively powerful. Faith is so effective an antidote for fear, the enemy mocks and trivializes it in hope the godly will be lulled into a false sense of “maybe this is too simple to work.” Exactly. Because it is not about us, but about whom we are trusting. Almighty God. “Is any thing too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:14).
We Need A Miracle 