Thursday the 16th

Matthew 21:  ²⁸"What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.'  ²⁹" 'I will not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. ³⁰"Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go.  ³¹"Which of the two did what his father wanted?" "The first," they answered.  Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.

 

I have done a lot of things in my professional life, I have been responsible for 350 employees at a plant, and I have had only one person to manage, one thing I have learned is talk is cheap. I have some of the most unlikely people step up and do what they said they would never do, and I have had some of the most promising fail to do what they gave their word to do. When I read what the Lord has to say about that I am reminded it is not what we say that always matters, it is our actions. Here we have Jesus talking to the chief priests, and elders, and He is telling them, hey look you guys are up here running your mouth, but there is no follow through. You are blind to the truth. He is telling them that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before them……..not exactly what these fellas wanted to hear I am sure.  Just because you know the words does not mean that you have the heart. A prayer means nothing if it is not heart felt, a pledge carries no weight and binds you to no one if you never planned to following through, and a priest can be just as lost, if not more so, than your average run of the mill sinner. Words count for little when they are not backed up by action. Where does that leave us? Which son will we be ? Will it be only words, will we create the grand façade, and have nothing to back it up in our lives? Or will rise to the occasion when the time comes, even though we did not start off heading that way? Christ is calling us to His vineyard, it does not matter if we say we are going or not, the question is, will you show up?

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford