DAILY DEVOTIONAL – FEBRUARY 25, 2023 God Goes Beyond What’s Fair By Tim Dilena

Inevitably when someone well known dies, I get asked, “Do you think that person is in heaven?” Before I respond, I always think of John Newton, the eighteenth-century former slave ship captain who became an abolitionist and clergyman. He said, “If I ever reach heaven I expect to find three wonders there: first, to meet some I had not thought to see there; second, to miss some I had expected to see there; and third, the greatest wonder of all, to find myself there.” Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a vineyard owner who hired workers early in the morning and agreed to pay them a certain amount of money, a denarius, for their day’s wages. Around midmorning, the vineyard owner caught sight of some others who were loitering in the marketplace, so he offered them work and set wages to tend to his vineyard. He rounded up more workers at noon, at midafternoon and in the early evening, offering the same work for a set wage. At quitting time, the owner directed his foreman to summon the workers, starting with the last group, and to pay them their wages. Each group received a denarius. By the time the foreman summoned the first group who had worked all day, they believed they would receive more wages because they had worked longer. And yet the foreman handed each person a denarius. The men in the first group complained to the owner, saying it wasn’t fair…but the owner replied, “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?” (Matthew 20:15, ESV). Jesus ended this parable by saying, “So the last will be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:16). I was born again at a very young age, so I am part of that first group of workers Jesus talked about. One day, my payment will be heaven and eternal life. Others are part of the last group, what I call the eleventh-hour person. They won’t work as long as I and others have, but here’s their payment: heaven and eternal life. You’ve worked hard, lived a good life, followed all the rules, so how is it fair that some guy who lived a terrible life gets the same reward when he seeks forgiveness within moments of his death? Jesus explains that the reward is given because God is generous. This devotion is an excerpt taken from Tim Dilena’s book The 260 Journey. You can find it in the World Challenge bookstore.   After pastoring an inner-city congregation in Detroit for thirty years, Pastor Tim served at Brooklyn Tabernacle in NYC for five years and pastored in Lafayette, Louisiana, for five years. He became Senior Pastor of Times Square Church in May of 2020.