MONDAY, MARCH 2
Scripture: Matthew 20:1-16

In Matthew 10:1-16 we read the parable of the laborers. In the parable of the laborers, the landowner called a group of laborers and they agreed for a wage of a denarius a day. The landowner realized that more laborers were needed and gathered more. He went out at the sixth and the ninth hour and did likewise. About the eleventh hour the landowner went out, gathered more and put them to work saying, “’You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you what is right.’ When evening came the owner told the steward to call the laborers to pay them their wages beginning with the last ones hired to the first. So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’” The interesting part of this story is that they complained to the landowner. How do men judge things? When they look around what is their standard of judgment? It is money. Beware of any politician who promises you financial equality. That is akin to communism and destroys the fabric of any nation who signs onto it. Socialism doesn’t work and never has! Why should those who work hard be forced to support the lazy who don’t work. God’s law says, if a man won’t work, neither shall he eat! The landowner went on to say, “Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.” Our Bible has about 8,800 promises. That is a sizeable inheritance. Some of those promises appear in the Old Testament and some we read in the New Testament. Some of those promises appear in both places. That is a significant inheritance for anyone. How much time do we spend reading the ‘will’? If a person is too lazy to read and lay hold of their inheritance, they forfeit the promises!