Dedicated to Prayer

Why am I not getting the pay that I deserve?

Matt 20:11-12: “When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner.’ These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.' ”

"But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?' ”  Matt 20:13-15

In this parable the grumblers made at least two mistakes.  The 1^st is that they compared their wages with the others.  When a person compares his/her wages with another, troubles begins to brew in their heart.  Especially when the other person makes more than you do!  You begin to think unfair, unfair, I deserve just as much or more than the other person.  We need to remind ourselves of the fact that we agreed to what the employer was offering. We could have rejected the offer and gone somewhere else to work.  Comparison breeds trouble in the heart so we must not compare but instead be grateful for what we receive. 

The 2^nd mistake, which was born out of the 1^st, was that they attacked their generous employer, who had every right to be generous to his workers.  Because of their selfishness, jealousy, and envy, they attacked their employer.  We need to be warned that if our hearts are not right we too can criticize our master for being generous to others.  So we must not compare and we must gratefully accept whatever the master decided to provide for us.

Father in regard to wages many can develop a bad attitude, help us to cultivate a pure and clean attitude to the wages you so generously give to us.  Amen.

Prospering in the New Year!

John 12:24-26: “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.” 

When Jesus says, “I tell you the truth,” we must take special note to His teaching.  And His teaching is this, if I refuse to die to my own selfish ways, my life will be unproductive in fulfilling God’s plan.  I may be productive by the world’s standards, but in God’s eyes I will be like the rich man who built bigger barns to store all his goods and died young.  My life will be a waste and God will call me a fool!

So Jesus is telling us to “die,” to give up our selfish ways and yield our lives to Him.  This may involve choosing to release the grudge that you have kept in your heart toward the one who hurt you deeply.  It may involve yielding to God’s prompting to give freely and generously toward His kingdom work.  It may involve stepping out in faith to start a new ministry or going on a short term mission trip.  However you respond remember the words of Jesus, “But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”  (John 12:24)  To live a productive and fruitful life we must die to our selfish ways and yield our lives to accomplishing God’s will.

Father, may our hearts be fully yielded to You today.  Amen.

Before answering that question, let’s define hypocrisy.  A hypocrite is someone who puts on a false appearance.  He strives to make himself look better than he really is.  He may act generously on the outside, but on the inside he full of greed.  So are Christians the hypocrites that many in our world accuse us of being?

I can only speak for myself by saying as a Christian I have played the hypocrite, many times.  When I make excuses, and blame others, for my bad behavior, I am playing the hypocrite, trying to make myself look better than I really am.  If someone asks me, “How are you doing?” and I say, “Fine” when I am really struggling, is that really being honest?   When I blame the freeway traffic for my lateness, instead of owning up to me being the cause of my lateness, that’s hypocrisy, making myself look better than I really am.
In Matthew chapter 7:1-3, Jesus presents a cure for hypocrisy.

Matt ³"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
Jesus teaches that we should not correct the small faults in others, when we have giant faults of our own.  Jesus calls that hypocrisy, His remedy for hypocrisy is for us to first cleanse and remove the giant faults that we have, before correcting the small faults in others.  It is in our human nature to easily smell the bad breath of others, but not our own.  So what must we do?

We must daily come before God to ask Him to reveal and to cleanse us any sinful behavior.  We must not deny, rationalize, or excuse our bad behavior.  We must own up, (confess) our behavior before God and by His power strive to change (repent of) our ways.  Our heart can easily become infected by impurity so we must diligently strive to maintain a pure heart.  Only after my heart is pure should I engage in the correction of others.

Father, reveal our sins to us and cleanse us of any sinful, hypocritical ways.  Then may we shine for you.  Amen.

As He looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in 2 very small copper coins. "I tell you the truth," He said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."  (Luke 21:1-4)

 Jesus sees life through eyes that are far more discerning than ours.  Most of the people in Jesus’ day would be very impressed with the large gifts of the rich.  Five thousand dollars is far more impressive than five cents.  Everyone knows that!  But Jesus points out that in God’s sight the widow’s pennies are far more impressive than the large offerings of the rich. Her gift was sacrificial!  It was as if she had given to God the money for her last meal, while the rich gave five grocery bags from their supermarket.

 Jesus is impressed with sacrificial giving because sacrificial giving reveals our love and commitment to honor Him.  If President Obama came to your house for dinner, would you serve him your leftovers?  Would the President be honored eating your leftovers?  I don’t think so!  Most people would provide for him the best they could offer. 

When we give our offering, we give to someone far more honorable than our President, we give to Almighty God!  Would God be honored with your leftovers?  Definitely not!  So give your best sacrificial offering to God.  This is the best financial decision you could ever make.   Notice God’s promise to those who honor Him with their faithful giving.

“Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”  Proverbs 3:9-10

You will never go wrong when you give generously and sacrificially to your God.  Trust in the Lord, for He is truly faithful.

May God bless you today and remember someone loves you very much!

Russell