God’s generosity

‘When evening came, the owner told his foreman, “Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with those who were hired last and ending with those who were hired first.” The men who had begun to work at five o’clock were paid a silver coin each. So when the men who were the first to be hired came to be paid, they thought they would get more; but they too were given a silver coin each.’ (verses 8-10)

Read Matthew 20:1-16

God has the right to be generous. He has the right to give his good gifts to whoever he wants to – even when his generosity may not seem to make much sense. You receive his generosity best, not when you compare what you have with what others have got, but when you give thanks to God for the many blessings that he has given you.

And God has given you so much. He has given you your life and every good thing that is part of it. And he has freely given you the gift of his own Son, Jesus. In Jesus you have the fullness of God’s generosity to you: you have his forgiveness, his life and his salvation.

To know God is to know his generosity: it is to know the free life, forgiveness and peace that he has given you in Jesus.

Father, thank you for being so generous to me. Give me the freedom to be generous to others, so that they may glorify your name together with me. Amen.

by Fraser Pearce, in ‘Renewed Hope for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2000)

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