His Generosity ~ Matthew 20:1-16 (On Faith that God provides)

Whenever I hear this being read in the Sunday or daily Gospel readings, this brings me back to 2009/2010 when I fell into the evil trap of being envious.

If you have read this bible verse, you’d know that in this story, the landowner was hiring different people in different timing and yet have given all the same wage at the end of the day. So some of those who worked from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm called “foul” comparing themeselves to those who started working at 4:00 pm and yet get the full wage at the end of the day.

True, we all go through this situation in our work life.

A newbie came in and his/her salary is way higher than yours. Human as we are – it is natural that we would feel envious towards that colleague. But this thought is totally not of God. This is only in our own understanding.

Stepping back, let’s try to look at it in God’s mind – when the landowner said:

Are you envious because I am generous?

Only this time, this message is clearly given to me… imagine? It took almost decade that this gospel ultimately become crystal clear and have come to life. Today, as I write this post, I reminded myself and you who is reading this – that you don’t need to compare yourself (of who you are and what you have) to others. We are all worthy in God’s eyes and He has the all the power and control whether He will give it to us or not. After all He is the owner of everything, we are just His stewards.

Going back to the gospel, we could recall that those who started early actually agreed to the given wage. This means in our current world its like the contract that we sign at the beginning of our employment. Thus, this means – it is something we agreed with our employer. Just like what the labourers agreed with the land owner.

What I’m driving here is that, the Lord is generous enough to give us what we have, our time, talent, treasure and even our life. And just like the lyrics of the song, Lord I Offer My Life:

“All that I am, all that I have, I lay them down before you Oh Lord”

Everything is from the Lord. Let us be grateful of what we have. Because the Lord can’t be outdone when it comes to his generosity.

Today you are alive, you have a job, you have your family around you. In 2020 – many of us thought that our dreams will be accomplished this year. But in fact – now we know that 2020 is the year that we truly appreciate what is essential in our lives.

Stay safe and healthy creative!

God bless,