
Living Kingdom: A thousand times, yes
“My first reaction to re-reading this parable was, Wow! A whole fable on indecisiveness? Could anything be more relevant to me as a human?”
“My first reaction to re-reading this parable was, Wow! A whole fable on indecisiveness? Could anything be more relevant to me as a human?”
Today’s endless pursuit of success and happiness can cost many areas of our lives that actually sustain us like rest, time with family, health, and the list goes on. . . There is a cost to our culture’s aspiration of “having it all”.
The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector isn’t for Pharisees, it’s for “some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else” (Luke 18:9). Was Jesus talking about you and me?
In the parable of the unmerciful servant, we get a play by play of a man who just like each of us wants forgiveness but yet does not extend the same mercy and kindness to others.
Everywhere around us, there are people lost in their sins and who are waiting to be found.
Is it possible we may share more in common with the wicked tenants than the ones the landowner replaces them with?
Just as every sheep is special in the sight of the shepherd, every child of Adam is unique and precious to the loving Creator.
This story is an exploration of the divine inclination towards “social justice”, what social justice should look like in the life of the believer, and how the way that we treat others in this life informs our treatment in the next.
In terms of declaring God in a secular society, genuine Christian living is our best tool, maybe even our only hope.
We must be intentional about slowing down the pace of our lives so that we can reorder our priorities and live out the greatest commandment.