11 And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 14 Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Learn It:
When I was a child I always had the impression that God was fair. After all, God loves everyone and we are all God's children so God must be fair and equal to each and every one of us. That is what I was brought up understanding (whether I taught that to myself or learned it I don't remember exactly).
While I was in seminary I spent some time chatting with a professor about fairness. As you might guess the professor brought up this passage and asked me if in this passage I thought God was fair. I couldn't help but answer with a "no" even though I very much wanted to say yes because of my childhood understanding that I brought into adulthood. God loves us all but that doesn't equal God is fair to us all. All the workers in the passage above received the same wage even though they didn't all work the same amount. God gives us all the gift of life and gives us God's promises no matter what. We may not want "this person" or "that person" to be saved as we are because they didn't believe as much or as well or they weren't as "good" a Christian as we were. Fortunately it's not up to us. God loves us all...no matter what. Salvation is up to God not us. Trust me when I say that is a VERY GOOD thing!
Share It:
What do you think about this whole idea of God being or not being fair? What is your impression or feelings about this? How would you differentiate fairness from God to God's love for everyone? What are examples that you can come up with that show that God isn't fair? Do you think God should be fair in everything or do you think that God should be "generous" in God's promises and gifts? Share you answers and any other questions that might come up during your time together.
Live It:
Spend this next week trying to do what is loving and generous not necessarily what is fair. There are times when those two things might be different. If you can't find a way to do it yourself spend the next week watching others and see if you can identify times when people are being fair but not loving and times when people are being loving but not fair. Good luck!
╬
Please post comments with your experience with the share it or live it part of this weeks post. Let others know if you and your family found this useful.
No comments:
Post a Comment