Like a Little Cheese to Go With That Whine?

Have you ever given a kid a gift they asked for and then listened to them whine about it after they unwrapped it?  It was the same item they requested, but not the right color or brand.  For example, click here to watch a young lady’s response as she receives a car in the wrong color.  When we receive something we should naturally be grateful.  We should not start complaining.  Jesus had this same issue with His people.  Read Matthew 20: 1-16.

¹ “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ² After agreeing with the workers on one denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ When he went out about nine in the morning, he saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ⁴ To those men he said, ‘You also go to my vineyard, and I’ll give you whatever is right.’ So off they went. ⁵ About noon and at three, he went out again and did the same thing. ⁶ Then about five he went and found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day doing nothing?’ ⁷ “‘Because no one hired us,’ they said to him. “‘You also go to my vineyard,’ he told them. ⁸ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard told his foreman, ‘Call the workers and give them their pay, starting with the last and ending with the first.’ ⁹ “When those who were hired about five came, they each received one denarius. ¹⁰ So when the first ones came, they assumed they would get more, but they also received a denarius each. ¹¹ When they received it, they began to complain to the landowner: ¹² ‘These last men put in one hour, and you made them equal to us who bore the burden of the day and the burning heat!’ ¹³ “He replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I’m doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me on a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what’s yours and go. I want to give this last man the same as I gave you. ¹⁵ Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my business? Are you jealous because I’m generous?’ ¹⁶ “So the last will be first, and the first last.”

Don’t whine and complain.  God is generous with whoever He wants to be generous with.  If they get more than what we have, then so be it.  We are to seek others good first.  We are to be last.  On a deeper level Jesus was telling the Jewish people that they were His chosen first, but He also had chosen more people to be His from the Gentiles.  The Jewish people thought that the Gentiles shouldn’t be receiving the same as they did.  After all they viewed the Gentiles as dogs.  How could God give them the same benefits and inheritance He had already given to them His chosen people? 

As Christians we need to take instruction from Jesus in this parable that He taught.  We are not to be jealous and complain about what God decides to give others.  If He chooses to bless others with more gifts than us, then so be it.  If He chooses to receive someone in to His Kingdom that we never thought could ever deserve such a thing (due to their lifestyle or crimes committed), then that is His right.  We are all equally sinners and only deserve to go to Heaven because of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross. He loves us all equally and He is our creator.  We have no right to tell Him who deserves what.  So the next time you start to compare, whine, complain or be jealous remember Jesus instructions taught in this parable or you might hear the Holy Spirit whisper in your ear, “Like a little cheese with that whine?”