But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”
The promise of God’s grace and eternal life is true for all men. The gift of salvation, by grace through faith, is available whether we accept it on our deathbed after years of rebellion or if we accept it as a child and serve Him faithfully for many, many years.
But is that fair?, you ask. No, it’s not. It’s more than fair.
God’s gift of salvation is an amazing, incomparable, unsurpassed, and most valuable gift. Whatever we were before we accepted it by faith, it matters not. Nothing we could do before our Christ could merit it, anyhow. How we come to that place is not the issue, but that we could to that place is!
The danger here, faithful believer, is that self-righteousness enters the equation and we add to God’s grace our goodness and impose our own moral hierarchy into the kingdom of God. The fact is, no matter how much we try, seniority is not recognised in the kingdom of God. There are no extra perks for length of service.
God’s grace is grace to all people. There is one door. It is the door of grace and it is opened by faith. No one is in a position to boast. But those who have sinned much, are forgiven much, and understand much just how great and marvellous a reward and blessing they have been given.
PRAYER: Lord, help me not to elevate my heart in self-righteousness but I ask you to allow me to receive a fresh revelation of just how much you love me today through a vision of the cross. In Jesus name, Amen.