How God Doles out Grace

There is a wonderful parable in Matt 20:1-16 about the wages a householder paid to his workers. I won't write the entire parable, but instead ask the question, when you consider the housekeeper, was he fair? You might sympathize with the workers who worked all day and got paid the same amount that those who only worked one hour received. You might think that they deserved more than those who started later.

Every one of us was given grace by God according to the generosity of Christ (Ehp 4:7). We also know that we can't earn grace or God's gifts. What we have earned is death, though what we've been given instead is life (Rom 6:23). We've heard that we aren't getting what we deserve so many times that we can forget just what we do deserve. God gives grace to people because they need it, not because they deserve it.

This way of thinking is not something we are taught as children. Play fair is often the mantra of parents with multiple children. When a parent doesn't share with equal measures, they potentially stir up jealousy in one or more of their children. This can lead to favoritism and cause resentment among children. But we are not children, and God does not play favorites.

When we think that we deserve God's grace, we set ourselves against the working of grace in our lives (James 4:6). God doesn't care what we think is fair, instead He supplies all our needs. Have you ever questioned why God blesses someone who isn't living right? Does God seem to bless them more than He blesses you? Is this fair?

Let's consider the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). Which brother deserved the favor of his father more? Which brother had the greater need? These questions have obvious answers, but let's take this just a little further and put yourself into the roll of one of the brothers. Do you relate more to the younger son or to the older son? What if you were to put yourself in the place of both brothers displaced by a period of time? Haven't we all had both our prodigal moments as well as times we question why God does the things that He does? Does our perception of the older son being angry with how his father treated the younger son change when we place ourselves in both positions? After years of dedicating your life to God and living a faithful life, do you resent God's mercy on you when you first repented of your sin? Of course not. Why is it then that we resent God's wonderful mercies on anyone?

Anyway, grace is not something we always completely understand. Consider this, if God seems to be blessing someone who has many problems in a great way, and you don't have nearly as many problems as them, isn't having fewer problems also God's grace working just in a different way? The way God works is not always apparent in our lives. The trials that we haven't gone through and the paths that we didn't walk can be just as valid an operation of grace as when He brings us through a trial.

In Luke 7:41-43, Jesus asks the question of what person would appreciate forgiveness more, one who was forgiven a little or one who was forgiven a lot? Jesus said that those who have been forgiven greatly will love the person who forgave them more. Is it possible that these people are more open to the moving of God than those who have been forgiven less? I'm not sure, but I know it doesn't have to be this way. You see God forgives us as individuals, not as corporate entities. We all need complete forgiveness; thankfully God doesn't ration his forgiveness or his grace. He gives us gifts freely and generously.

So maybe, just maybe, could it be that we are the cause of our own consternation? Could it be that maybe we don't accept the gifts of God as freely as they are given. Search your heart and you will know; this is what it means to have a contrite heart. Keep in mind the other half of James 4:6. God gives grace to His humble, contrite, and undeserving children. Don't take this away from yourself.