Our paragraph topic is: (Parable of the laborers in the vineyard)
Part 25.
We started this chapter with Christ teaching his disciples about the kingdom of heaven. He uses parables to get his message across to those who have ears to hear, those who have open minds, those who have not been influenced. This particular parable is about laborers. It is about the need for workers. It is about agreements, and wages or rewards. It is about generosity, and rights, about influence and anger and disagreements with the one who has the right to make a decision.
God made man and decided to be generous with his grace. He created the angels and the principalities first before man. Man does not have the same power and majesty as the angels but God our Father still loves us as he does all his creations. Christ told his disciples that the kingdom of heaven is like a house-holder who went out to hire laborers to work in his vineyard. He had a right to do so. He had a need to do so. He has the resources to do so. Yet at the end of the day others decided that he was wrong in the way that he dispensed his generosity. As the parable ends Christ says that: "For many are called, but few are chosen."
What does it mean to be chosen? Who are they who are called and for what? Does God have a special purpose for each of us? What is his plan and who are the participants? These are questions that may come to mind as we think about this parable. For the words of Christ are living words that have meaning and purpose. They are written for our direction, for our understanding, for our knowledge and our wisdom. If we seek to know, to understand, to believe, to trust then we must seek the meanings of these words. Those meanings will not come from outside. They will not come from others. They will only come from the light Christ has given us within the will guide us and teach us on a daily basis.
For we are the children of the living God. He gave each of us life. At some point in each of our lives we have contemplated why we are here. We have asked the question: "Why was I born?" And we have sought to give meaning to that question that we may live our lives. For we were born out of love. We were given life out of grace. And we were restore to life out of passion. And yet we live not know the inner self, the inner life, the inner light that comes from the Father. He is our purpose. He is our passion. He is our meaning of life.
And life has no meaning without him. We can strive for all physical life has to offer. We can reach the mountain top and live high above all the rest. We can achieve lofty goals in life only to find that nothing has meaning in the physical. And if we choose not to recognize, not to understand, we choose to die without meaning, without purpose, without love. For it is the love of the Father that overcomes all. It is the love of the Father that fulfills all. It is the love of the Father that is all to the life that we have. And without that love nothing has meaning.
We live and we die and darkness takes the rest. But with the Father, life continues. With the Father, love abides. With the Father, physical life is but a shell that is shed upon death and the doors to the kingdom are open that we may know ourselves as we truly are known, spiritual beings who belong to the Father. Awaken to the truth of who you are within. Christ has given us the key. He has told us how to see. All we have to do is open our eyes and behold what is within us. The joy, the peace, the love awaits your awakening. Come! Open your eye and see!
Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.
Part 25.
We started this chapter with Christ teaching his disciples about the kingdom of heaven. He uses parables to get his message across to those who have ears to hear, those who have open minds, those who have not been influenced. This particular parable is about laborers. It is about the need for workers. It is about agreements, and wages or rewards. It is about generosity, and rights, about influence and anger and disagreements with the one who has the right to make a decision.
God made man and decided to be generous with his grace. He created the angels and the principalities first before man. Man does not have the same power and majesty as the angels but God our Father still loves us as he does all his creations. Christ told his disciples that the kingdom of heaven is like a house-holder who went out to hire laborers to work in his vineyard. He had a right to do so. He had a need to do so. He has the resources to do so. Yet at the end of the day others decided that he was wrong in the way that he dispensed his generosity. As the parable ends Christ says that: "For many are called, but few are chosen."
What does it mean to be chosen? Who are they who are called and for what? Does God have a special purpose for each of us? What is his plan and who are the participants? These are questions that may come to mind as we think about this parable. For the words of Christ are living words that have meaning and purpose. They are written for our direction, for our understanding, for our knowledge and our wisdom. If we seek to know, to understand, to believe, to trust then we must seek the meanings of these words. Those meanings will not come from outside. They will not come from others. They will only come from the light Christ has given us within the will guide us and teach us on a daily basis.
For we are the children of the living God. He gave each of us life. At some point in each of our lives we have contemplated why we are here. We have asked the question: "Why was I born?" And we have sought to give meaning to that question that we may live our lives. For we were born out of love. We were given life out of grace. And we were restore to life out of passion. And yet we live not know the inner self, the inner life, the inner light that comes from the Father. He is our purpose. He is our passion. He is our meaning of life.
And life has no meaning without him. We can strive for all physical life has to offer. We can reach the mountain top and live high above all the rest. We can achieve lofty goals in life only to find that nothing has meaning in the physical. And if we choose not to recognize, not to understand, we choose to die without meaning, without purpose, without love. For it is the love of the Father that overcomes all. It is the love of the Father that fulfills all. It is the love of the Father that is all to the life that we have. And without that love nothing has meaning.
We live and we die and darkness takes the rest. But with the Father, life continues. With the Father, love abides. With the Father, physical life is but a shell that is shed upon death and the doors to the kingdom are open that we may know ourselves as we truly are known, spiritual beings who belong to the Father. Awaken to the truth of who you are within. Christ has given us the key. He has told us how to see. All we have to do is open our eyes and behold what is within us. The joy, the peace, the love awaits your awakening. Come! Open your eye and see!
Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.
