Some friends and I went to the movie Seven Pounds last night. This movie is so spiritual (but honestly, what isn't?). So as to not give anything away if you haven't seen it, I'll try to be general. In one part, Will Smith gives a really big gift to a woman and her children. He chose her because of her circumstances and this would now allow her to get away from her abusive boyfriend. In the letter he had written to her explaining things, he says something like "When you feel like asking 'why me?', don't". She is instructed to start a new life, starting with this gift she's been given.
I can't tell you the number of times God has said this same thing to me lately. When I look at the huge gifts and blessings God has given me, I can be in awe of it, but I'm no longer going to try and figure out how or why He did it. I do know it's because He loves me THAT MUCH. But ultimately it's what I do with it that matters. Am I going to start a new life or continue to repeat past mistakes that took me away from God? For me, the answer is easy.
This gift of grace and mercy - it makes me responsible. I am responsible for showing others the love that God has shown me. I am responsible for taking lessons learned and share my story with others so that I am a model for how a relationship with Christ changes a person. I am excited for all the different ways He will have me do this in the coming year. I know as a Christian, it's what I'm supposed to do. It is what I want to do.
My prayer for all of us this new year is that we will feel a deeper responsibility and desire to act because of what God has done for us personally. I pray that you too have felt the power of God's love and grace and that it inspires you to reach out to the world in any way you can.
Happy New Year!
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The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
1"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3"About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' 5So they went.
"He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?'
7" 'Because no one has hired us,' they answered.
"He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.'
8"When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.'
9"The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12'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.'
13"But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? 14Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?'