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Generous Gifts
Scripture: Matthew 20:1-16
The metaphors Jesus used for the life of ministry are frequently images of the single, the small, and the quiet, which have effects far in excess of their appearance: salt, leaven, seed. Our culture publicizes the opposite emphasis: the big, the multitudinous, the noisy. It is far more biblical to learn quiet attentiveness before God than to exhaust ourselves in a flurry of activity.
Yet one of the dehumanizing features in our society is that there is a price put on nearly everybody. We determine the value of others by what they do and how much money they make. We even base our own self-image on how much we earn.
Jesus’s story in Matthew 3 proclaims the good news of a different way of determining our value, not by how much we earn or how long we work, not by our productivity or seniority, not by our maleness or femaleness, but simply because we are. We all get treated generously by God.
This parable creates a community of understanding where each person is valued the way God values us. We set aside what our parents think of us, what our colleagues think of us, what our friends and acquaintances think of us, what our enemies think of us, and we pay attention to what God thinks of us.
The message of Jesus’s parable isn’t a formula for psychological self-realization, and it isn’t a self-help pep talk. It’s the simple, direct declaration that God calls you, which means you are significant, and that God gives you generous gifts, which means you are highly esteemed.
The workers in the parable found that no matter what time in their lives they got in on the work, they were still needed. They also found that no matter how many or how few hours they had put in, they were treated with dignity and grace.
The moment they decided to listen to what God said to them and pay attention to how God valued them—not to what others said about them or how they felt about themselves—they were on the way to getting their act together.
The moment you decide that, you will, too.
What is one thing you could do this week to help you remember that how God values you is more important than what others think of you?
Scripture
About this Plan
The reflections in The Message Devotional Bible let the wisdom of the Scriptures settle more fully into your spirit. In this devotional, we'll get a taste of Eugene Peterson's insights on Scriptures from Genesis through Jesus's parables and the epistles of John. As Peterson writes, "It's my privilege to walk with you through the Scriptures. I come as a guide and fellow traveler. Traveling mercies for us both."
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