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Songs & Prayer
On Sunday we gave a prayer for those we know in our lives whom are facing struggles and hardships and sang songs about the power, grace, and commitment our Lord has for us. After reading Matthew 20 we can learn a lot regarding our own hardships and the way the Lord feels for us.
The first section of Matthew 20, Jesus tells a parable about a vineyard owner and the day laborers he hires over the course of a day. Every time throughout the course of the day the owner hires laborers he makes an agreement to pay them a denarius. When it came time to pay the servants, those who worked all day were disgruntled to find that they received the same amount as those who only worked a couple hours. In life, some of us may struggle or face hardships longer than others and some of us will take on Christ sooner than others. But we all are offered the equal opportunity to get to heaven. With this in mind, we must try not compare our journey to that of others or focus on the “negatives.” When we put on Christ in baptism, we do so willingly as individuals, not as a group. We should be focused that we even have the opportunity of getting to heaven while being able to encourage others to live obediently to God’s standards, not our own.
Being a disciple of Christ isn’t easy and will take hard work and dedication on our part as well. As Jesus explains it, if we want to do our best in this life, the best thing we can do is serve. As Christians it is our duty to serve God through obedience, getting to know Him and His teachings, and by showing Christ’s love and mercy to others, “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).
When interacting with others, we won’t always be able to understand the reasons behind their behaviors or the logic of what has happened. And just as with the blind men at the end of Matthew 20, the “crowd” in our lives is going to have their own version of how we should handle a situation. But it is not our job to always understand, but rather to show compassion and mercy as Christ did. God sent His son to die for the sins of the world and Christ knowing his fate sacrificed his life so that we all can conquer death. If we believe and plant that seed of God and for God, then sure enough that seed will grow from the power our Almighty Father.
