Yahweh has created a wonderful world for us to enjoy. He has created each of us as unique and wonderfully made. He gives us each gifts and abilities to use for His glory. He blesses us with life and many more things to help us prosper. How shall we treat Him and His messengers in return?
Parable of the Vine-growers
1And He began to speak to them in parables: “A man PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT, AND DUG A VAT UNDER THE WINE PRESS AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. 2“At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers. 3“They took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4“Again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. 5“And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others. 6“He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7“But those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ 8“They took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9“What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others.
10“Have you not even read this Scripture:
‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED,
THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone;
11THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD,
AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’?”
12And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the people, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so they left Him and went away.
Take a moment to reflect on how selfish and wicked the vine-growers are… they represent the vast majority of people that God has created. They reject God, His messengers, even His son. They live for themselves. The justify and rationalize their actions as if to avoid recognizing any wrongdoing.
Now reflect on the vineyard owner. How shall he react? God has given much patience and grace already. Many prophets and even His son have come in His name. For those who have welcomed them, they will be received into the kingdom of God. For the many, however, who have rejected and killed and mocked the messengers and son of God, they will face a righteous judgment. They will suffer because of their own choices.
Each of us gets to choose how we treat God and His messengers when He reaches out to us. It is more than just words. We show we accept God through consistent actions and attitudes… through how we choose to live our lives. Will we live selfishly after our own desires and claim with our lips to honor God or will we honor God with our very lives, choosing His ways above our own.
Choose wisely.
I invite you to pray with me:
Father, please help me to treat You and Your messengers with respect and thankfulness. Let me not live selfishly according to my own desires, but live in submission to You as LORD. Help me to do so joyfully and thankfully! Thank You for my family, my job, my home, and so much more. Thank You for fellow believers, followers of Christ. Amen.
Shalom
Devotion by John in service to Christ
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