Gratitude Killer...

This is not the major point of this parable, but it’s something we all should still see. God owns everything. He created it everything and He allows us to be stewards of it. With that said, one of the major faults of the early vineyard workers here is their uncanniness to compare themselves with the last-hired workers. It never fails. When we compare ourselves to others we will ALWAYS be discontent. God has placed in us a sense of justice and fairness. Anytime we are too self-absorbed, we tend to compare ourselves with others. We use that sense of justice or fairness to our disadvantage. You often hear the statements, “if I had this or that I could do that just as well or even better than so-and-so”. Or, “it’s easy for them because they have the money to do it”. The list goes on and on. The problem with comparing is that you will always find someone bigger, faster, stronger, richer, or better looking than you. It will deflate your ego faster than poking a ballon with a straight pin. God uses comparing to humble us at times, but Satan uses it far more, and with only one goal in mind; to deflate, demoralize, and make us discontent with God. We were never meant to compare ourselves. Just as the story states, God does whatever He pleases, because He owns it all. It’s His prerogative, isn’t it? It’s only when we focus on Him, that we find contentment, security, and peace. Did the vineyard owner violate any laws? Did the early vineyard workers get exactly what they thought they would get paid? Does God’s kindness make us jealous? If so, we need to re-examine our hearts and find out where our focus really is. When you compare, you will fail, but when you fail to compare, contentment and gratitude towards our Maker will follow. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. It’s the ultimate equalizer in life.

1 “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard.2 He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.3 “At nine o’clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing.4 So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day.5 So they went to work in the vineyard. At noon and again at three o’clock he did the same thing.6 “At five o’clock that afternoon he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’7 “They replied, ‘Because no one hired us.’“The landowner told them, ‘Then go out and join the others in my vineyard.’8 “That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first.9 When those hired at five o’clock were paid, each received a full day’s wage.10 When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day’s wage.11 When they received their pay, they protested to the owner,12 ‘Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’13 “He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage?14 Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you.15 Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?’16 “So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.” Matthew 20:1-16