Being Real in Our Faith

UV 3667/10000 Being Real in Our Faith And he answered, “ I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and changed his mind and went. Matthew 21 v 29 In this uni-verse, Jesus is not glorifying the lack of obedience on the part of the first son but stating that all people come to the Lord as an after thought, a repentance, a turning back from a past of disbelief, disregard and disobedience of the Heavenly Father. From the perspective of the Lord, better is the one who stumbled and rose up than the one who never fell but presumes that for that reason, He has no need for God in his life. Hence, Heaven is not populated by the religious minded, the self righteous, the hyprocrites, the insincere, the half hearted but by people who turned from a sinful past marked by disbelief to a life of faith, trust and love of God. Heaven is populated by those who are broken, desperate, those who feel they can make it only by grace and not by virtue of their own good deeds or efforts. The first son regretted it. It meant that a change of heart preceded the change of mind. He regretted it as he felt that his act of defiance of his father’s authority was not right. He wanted to make amends by going to the vineyard and work in it as his father had asked him to. The vineyard, being a metaphor for the kingdom of God, we need to heed the voice of the Lord to work for the Lord in the kingdom of God on earth. The parable does not mention the nature of the work he did in the vineyard. We need to assume it was productive work. Our belief in the Lord Jesus is reckoned as obedience even as our sharing our faith with others is regarded as productive work. The father in the story does not hold the initial disobedience of the first son against him. The second son went through the motions and gave the impression that he is obedient but he did not go to the vineyard to work. Those who pay lip service to the Lord are comparable to the second son. When we make a commitment to the Lord or for that matter to anyone, we need to mean our words. Words and intentions are not enough to qualify as citizens of the kingdom of God or as children of the Lord. We need to practice what we believe, what we teach or preach.