Jesus tells a parable of the landowner who went out early in the morning to find laborers for his vineyard, Matthew 20:1. The landowner found some men waiting to be hired, agreed on a wage and sent them off to work in his field.
The landowner saw there were not enough workers, so the same thing happened when he went back at the third hour, except this time he told the workers ‘whatever is right I will give you,’ verse 4. The workers were happy to work under these conditions.
This was repeated this at the sixth and ninth hour and then at the eleventh hour. At the eleventh hour he asked the men why they had been standing there all day long. The answer came from the workers, ‘Because no one hired us,’ verse 7. So the landowner sent them into the vineyard too.
How does this apply to us? The landowner is God. Some people God calls early in life, even as children. I remember Evie Tornquist speaking once many years ago at the square outside St Andrews cathedral in Sydney one Good Friday. Evie said she was 3, when she gave first felt God’s call and responded.
I was also a child when God first called me. So was each of my children when they responded to the Lord initially. It wasn’t a perfect faith, and it need to grow, but it was definitely a faith. Faith that was built on as years passed and we came to know more of Him and His ways.
But you see God isn’t concerned about how old we are when He calls us. What concerns him is what we do after we are called.
Though they may have received the call at different times in the day, each of these workers received a call from the landowner and they obeyed and went to work in the field. Have you felt God’s call upon your life? Have you responded to him? If you have felt his call will you now go out into the world, (which is his vineyard) to work for Him?
Join me for more about this parable and working for God next time.
Bible verses from the New American Standard Version
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