It’s VBS Work Week, and that means, seriously, a lot of tape and sweat. Every year I tell myself how much more prepared I’m going to be to make this an easy week of work. It has never been that way. It probably never will be. I’m good with it. It takes a lot of work to pull off VBS and a lot of tape.
VBS Work is Kingdom work. It is God at work. He works in us and through us. God works through us to soften our hearts and helps us reach people that we may never have reached otherwise. God works in us when we encourage each other this week and next during VBS. Really, Kingdom work NEVER ends. There are always people to check on, pray for, teach, encourage, love on, and save. We are to be a people who work in the vineyard of the Lord till the Master comes back to pay us our wages. There’s a good church song we used to sing when I was a kid. I don’t hear it much anymore, but in the first line of verse 3, it reminds us: To the work! To the Work! There is labor for all. This week there is labor for all: VBS labor. But it’s so fun to see God at work, even when we are tearing tape.
In Kingdom work, there is never a shortage of work to be done. We all need to get busy and labor till the master comes! Especially this week and next.
In Matthew 20:1-16 Jesus tells us the parable of the workers in the vineyard, and is a parable that is unique to Matthew’s Gospel. The owner of a vineyard hires day laborers at various times throughout the day. The ones hired at six o’clock in the morning put in a full day’s work. Those hired at five o’clock put in only one hour of work. But the owner pays everyone a full day’s wage. He goes out of his way to make sure that everyone knows that all are paid the SAME in spite of the different number of hours worked. Those who were hired first complain that they worked longer but earned no more money than those who started late in the day. “But the owner replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?… Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last”.
Here is Jesus’s whole point: Entry into God’s kingdom is not gained by our work or action but by the generosity of God. God is so generous with His work in the Kingdom that it is not limited in the same way that we might limit people. God sees the big picture.
Here is my whole point: Get to work. Don’t complain. Be grateful you have a job in the Kingdom of Christ, even if is seems like all you are doing is tearing tape because God is at work!
I love you,
Alex