From: "Phil Rembleski" <PHIl@rescuechurchofchrist.org>
To: "1111RESCUEMEMBERS"
Sent: Wed, Jul 13, 2022 at 6:22 AM
Subject: 7-13-22 THOUGHTS
7-13-22 THOUGHTS
Which of us as parents have not heard the cry “That’s not fair”? In life, each of us has their own “fairness” idea. Almost always, there is a selfish element to our fairness thinking. Below, envy, disguised as fairness, is set against GENEROSITY! I believe verse 16 is telling us that our thinking is often backwards. When our thoughts are at the crossroad of GETTING versus GIVING, we must think long and hard! The SELF will cry out loudly, we must not listen! Whether it is food, money or time, OUR GENEROUS GOD wants us to THINK GENEROUSLY! HE TEACHES US TO ENJOY HIS NATURE! If the parable below says anything, it says that GOD IS ABUNDANTLY GIVING!
Matt 20:1-16 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 "When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 "And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; 4 and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went. 5 "Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. 6 "And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ 7 "They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 8 "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’ 9 "When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. 10 "When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. 11 "When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ 13 "But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 ‘Take what is yours and go, but 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 what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’ 16 "So the last shall be first, and the first last."
1Pet 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,
My Prayer:
Help us to desire to be like You our Father. You have revealed to us your nature and we are awed. May we learn to respond according to your nature. May we be good children. Help us to be a better world as we beg for a better world. You, O God, are the beauty and the right and the truth and the light in this world. O Lord our God, may our idea of fairness be tied to the cross of Jesus and the great victory of the resurrection. We pray always in the name of the one who saves us, Amen..