So many Christians long to understand God and draw closer to Him, day and night. Others go on to immerse themselves in scripture, some in prayer, and most in doing good deeds. These are all ways to draw nearer to God in themselves, but those who really want to know God, have got to dive deeper.
However, even though one decides to dive deeper, they come to realize; they have to keep going much deeper. As God is infinite in His ways. The mind of God is as endless as the abyss. And so is the study of the ways of God. When one becomes a Christian long enough, they come at peace with the fact that they might never be perfect or sinless as they wish to be.
The more you draw closer to God, the more you come to realize you can never really comprehend His ways, to their fullness. No wonder He calls Himself a mystery. From making just one man die, for the rest of the world, to rescuing only Noah while the rest of the world was sinking. To testing, whether Abraham was willing to give his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice.
Another time, Jesus narrated this parable to His disciples concerning the kingdom: Mathew 20:1-15 NKJV
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise.6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing [a]idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’7 They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, [b]and whatever is right you will receive.’
8 “So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ 9 And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. 10 But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. 11 And when they had received it, they [c]complained against the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ 13 But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’
Christ goes on to justify the judgment and mysterious ways of the kingdom. In that, from a first glance, the payment seems unfair for those who put in more work, in comparison to those who got hired last. However, if you recall the initial agreement the land owner had with the very first workers, it makes perfect sense as to why He(the landowner) is fair.
His emphasis here is quite clear yet subtle. The landowner is trying to show the first set of early workers that whatever is His, as the landowner, only He has control on how to share it. Not the workers who were just hired.
His decision to pay the last workers the same, by no means diminishes the pay set for the earliest workers. In His eyes, all workers are the same no matter how much effort they put in. As we read in verse 10:
‘But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more….’
And they received just the same pay. Now shall you call the land owner’s rate of pay unfair?
If not, I will also ask: how much did the earliest workers agree to get paid before they began working? Isn’t the landowner allowed to use His wealth as He wishes, without restriction? What if the landowner never hired any other workers and only stopped on the first batch, the ones He hired in the morning. Would they still complain about their pay, if it were only them who were working?
Obviously His money, His rules. More so like His kingdom, His rules. What seems reasonable before your eyes may not be so before God. Even more so for the contemporary Christians. Stringently those who think they are better than others. Thinking that their good deeds qualify them for a better place than the rest before God. Is it really so?
Christ narrated this parable to emphasize how miracles and greatness from God, has no correlation with age nor hard work. Rather it was at the will of the land owner, that everything turned out so. It’s by His mercy and grace that we are all saved, to date. For all we have is the Lord’s, and to Him back we shall go. So what good would it be to try and tell Him how to spend His energy. As if it were yours to begin with?
So instead of envying and stalking those doing better than you, spend that time focusing on pleasing the land owner rather than telling Him how to use His money.
Instead of giving God a pattern He should follow, you should submit to Him and follow His instructions.
Rather than trying to figure out how to please God, focus on how to fulfill His will and purpose He has placed in your heart.
