Working under contract . . . Part IV

So, we pick it up at the end of the day. The owner told his foreman to call the laborers from last to first. The eleventh hour workers get, surprise! a whole day's pay. Now we are not told what the workers from the third, sixth and ninth hours got; and frankly, I am dying to know what happened between verses nine and ten. The only clue that we have to their compensation, is the expectation of those from the beginning of the day. They thought that they would get more, why? Because they saw what everyone else was getting.

Now, tell me honestly, have you ever grown bitter in the Lord's work, because you set you expectation on what someone else was getting? I can tell you from experience (in the fullest since of the word) that it can happen more easily than you can imagine; especially, when you have it harder than you think you should, and someone else has it so easy. Let me tell you something, you don't get to pick who get blessed and when or how much: that is God's business, and He is under no obligation to share His reasons for blessing one and allowing trials to befall another. This is what you need to latch on to: He is right in whatever He does. So, it may not be easy, and it may be incredibly hard; but the wonderful thing is that God is at work, to accomplish something wonderful in you and through you. You see, the best place for you, may be right in the middle of the storm.

Now, I must confess, this is not where I thought this would end up today, but having said it, I know there is a reason. The fact is that people drop out of Christianity because they have imbibed the idea that it is a formula: I put this in, and I get this out. So when, it gets difficult, and they put in their ten percent, and it gets even harder than it was the week or month before: the cry is not for patients to have its perfect work; the cry is, take away my problems. Let's get this straight, real Christianity, often resembles someone in jail, innocent of any crime; rather than someone who has every modern convenience and won't tell people about Christ, because they are afraid someone will mock them or laugh them.

More coming, loved ones.