God is generous.

God is generous. Jesus explains this in his story about the owner of the vineyard who gives the same salary to the men who worked one hour as to those who worked eight hours. This kind of generosity is more than we can comprehend. Today if the owner of a store gave the same pay to the person who worked one hour as to the person who worked eight hours, there would be a strike.

To grasp the force of God's generosity, we need to apply Jesus’ story to our own lives, today. We need to get into the sandals of the people standing round. Are we in any way like them? Are we spinning our wheels in life? Are we waiting for a call to do more with our lives? Have we worked ourselves into a mode of self-satisfaction that makes us blind and deaf to the possibility of change?

I’m curious about where people are waiting? In front of the Home Depot? Even here in church? At home watching TV? At work? In a nursing home? In a bar? In Christ’s story, the owner of the vineyard calls the people standing around to work. I’m wondering, how does God call us today? The bible, the church, our family, our work, popular music, sickness, failure, blessings, a friend, or an enemy? What does God ask us to? Oops, you mean I might have to change?

Why are we afraid to hear the call of God? I suppose that when we are confronted with the generous and loving call of God, our natural reaction is "I’m not worthy. What about my sins, especially those I confess time and again and I continually fall into again? The habits of sin: sex, pornography, masturbation, unfaithfulness. Then there are the things I do to escape the pain of my life: drugs, drink, work, TV, food, laziness. I hurt the people I live and work with by my anger, insensitivity and lack of patience."I suppose that when we are confronted with the generous and loving call of God, our natural reaction is "I’m not worthy. What about my sins, especially those I confess time and again and I continually fall into again? The habits of sin: sex, pornography, masturbation, unfaithfulness. Then there are the things I do to escape the pain of my life: drugs, drink, work, TV, food, laziness. I hurt the people I live and work with by my anger, insensitivity and lack of patience."

We can use all these quite valid reasons for not responding to God's generous call. But today we’re being challenged to drop all our excuses and fall into the generous, loving arms of God who loves us.

The big question is, are we willing to be loved by this Tremendous lover? I think I will say, "Yes".