OUR DAILY BREAD
Sunday
June 30, 2013
Late Arrivals Welcome
Read: Matthew 20:1-16
I wish to give to this last
man the same as to you. —Matthew 20:14
One night when I visited a
nursing home, a resident named Tom slipped out quietly from his room, hoping to
catch me to chat. After we talked awhile, he asked, “Won’t
God be insulted if I become a Christian this late in life?”
Tom’s question wasn’t a surprise. As a
chaplain, I often hear it in varying forms from the elderly, from those who
struggle with addictions, from former prisoners. They think they have a
legitimate reason to believe it’s too late for them
to know God or to be used by Him.
Tom and I spent time
exploring people in Scripture who, because of their past, could have thought it
was too late for them to know God. But Rahab, a prostitute (Josh. 2:12-14; Heb.
11:31), and Zacchaeus, a tax collector (Luke 19:1-8), chose faith in God
despite their past.
We also looked at Jesus’
parable of workers in the vineyard (Matt. 20:1-16). The earlier the hire, the
more labor they were able to give the vineyard owner (vv.2-7), but those hired
later discovered they had equal value in the owner’s
eyes and would be rewarded equally (vv.8-16). The vineyard owner chose to be
gracious to them all.
No matter our past or
present, God longs to show us His grace and bring us into relationship with
Him. —Randy Kilgore
Father, we are amazed at Your
grace! Thank You that
we can come to You at any
time for forgiveness and be
restored to relationship with
You. Thank You that we
can now be used by You to
touch the lives of others.
To give your life to Christ
now is to keep it forever.
Goodmorning
0 comments:
Post a Comment