Jesus told this story to confront his listeners with the ugly truth that they were not as obedient to God as they thought they were. A father asked his sons to work in the vineyard. The first son said no but later changed his mind and went to work. The second son said yes but then never went to work....
My children used to complain, “Dad, it’s not fair!” My response was, “You’re right. But then, God never promised that life would be fair.”...
Those of us who are parents have the awesome task of preparing our children for their future. That future is the fusion of two parts—training for the short time they will be here on earth and training for their future in eternity. That can be a daunting undertaking, involving two totally different approaches to achieving a successful outcome...
A good story can change the way you see something or someone. Jesus’ story about the landowner and the workers he hires does just that....
It’s terrifying to face the threat of destruction and death from the almighty, holy, one true God. The people of Nineveh faced this. They believed God was serious about his threat against them. They grasped the fact that they had fallen under the judgment of God because of their sinfulness. Even with their great military prowess, they could not defend themselves against God. So they turned to him and sought his mercy to be spared from destruction....
Joseph’s brothers were afraid. They had done terrible things to Joseph; now Joseph was a powerful ruling official in Egypt. The lives of the brothers were in his hands. They were afraid! ...
A recent survey indicated the number one reason people stop going to church is that they hold a grudge. They disagree with something someone said or did and can’t bring themselves to resolve the problem, so they simply stay away from it. ...
Matthew, the apostle and evangelist, knew all about debts. Before he became a disciple of Jesus, he had been a tax collector—responsible for collecting money from people in Israel on behalf of the occupying Roman government. He would have kept track of income and debts for people from all levels of society and would have been aware of how people got into trouble with difficulty paying off their debts....
It is a natural impulse in us all to look down on those we think dumber than we are and to take advantage of those weaker than we are. We fawn over the beautiful, rich, and powerful and despise losers....
Because these verses are just a summary of two battles between the Israelites and the Philistines, it’s easy to miss the subtle, poetic contrast here. Notice—the Philistine soldiers had to carry their gods with them into battle, lifeless idols of wood and stone that had to be faced in the direction of the fighting to “support” their men. Then the soldiers had to lug their gods back to camp. By contrast, the LORD went before the Israelite army to rout their enemies. They didn’t lug their God along; they followed his mighty train and merely mopped up the detritus left by fleeing soldiers. ...