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Advent Devotional for Saturday, December 13
Matthew 21:28-32
In this parable Jesus compares the father to God and his sons to two types of people: those who repent and those who do not care for their father’s wishes. These would seem to be the only characters, but it is the vineyard that is most ignored. The vineyard is a character as well. It is alive and in need of love and care.
The vineyard is our relationship with God. One son said he would care for it and yet did not; he would have let the plants go untended and die. The other son said he would not care for the plants, but went out and cared for them as asked. God lets us choose whether or not to tend to our vineyards. God is always there with us, reaching out to us. When we do God’s will, we in turn reach for God and we connect.
Often in our lives we may feel a tug to do something we may not have chosen to do. We sense a calling from a force we cannot always see. Yet somehow we know that it is God. Sometimes through that flickering thought in the corner of our minds, God calls, and other times God shouts to us over all the noise. God calls each of us to tend to our vineyards in different ways. Though we may not always be ready or willing to dive into the call, God awaits us with hands outstretched, waiting for us to take them. Words are only a faint whispering compared to the resounding roar of action. Jesus teaches us to live in love toward one another. God calls us to act out of love and care. How do we answer God each day? How do our vineyards fare?
Gracious God, whose love never fails to find us. Help us to sense your spirit within the sanctums of our souls, calling us to you every day. Give us the strength to reach out to you as you reach for us so that we may answer your calling with all that we are. In your everlasting name we pray, Amen.
Emily Béghin
Senior MDiv Student
For the glory of God and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is a seminary in the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition whose mission is to educate and equip individuals for the ordained Christian ministry and other forms of Christian service and leadership; to employ its resources in the service of the church; to promote and engage in critical theological thought and research; and to be a winsome and exemplary community of God's people.
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