Matthew 20:1-7 New International Version (NIV)
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went. “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ 7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
Mon. August 17 - Matthew 20:1-7 I once remember someone telling the story of their conversion to Christianity as an adult. The story was dramatic and inspiring. I found myself wondering if I should have a more dramatic personal faith story. It also made me wonder if I had screwed something up. Here I was, a Christian my whole life, baptized as a baby, son of a pastor, went to church every Sunday, confirmed after 8th grade, participated in high school youth group and went to a Christian college. But where was my dramatic experience of God in my life? Was God holding out on me? But then I realized something really important: when I was baptized as a baby I did not have to wait! I was given the privilege of knowing God from the very beginning. That does not make me better or worse than any other Christian, it just means that I got Jesus and his promises from the very start! No matter when or how God found you the fact of the matter is that He has! You are His! You are a child of the living God and an heir of the kingdom of heaven! Now get to work forgiving and loving others.