A Penny for a Day

I watched the new Bible Video on Laborers in the Vineyard. I could not understand it. So I went to Elder Holland's talk (2012) and found some insights.

This is a parable about jealousy. The first laborers, that worked all day were contracted for a penny. The last laborers didn’t know what they were going to get when they went out. At the end of the day the Lord of the vineyard paid them all a penny. The first laborers were upset that they had to work all day. The Lord of the Vineyard asks, "Why should you be jealous because I choose to be kind? Being kind is good thing." In those days a penny is a day’s labor. In the morning, the first laborers were so happy to get that penny to feed their families. The last laborers were over looked over and over again. They weren't going to be able to feed their families. The ones that weren’t chosen at all - now they didn’t get anything.

So why do we feel envious when someone else gets an unexpected blessing or special recognition? We are not in a race against each other. We are in a race against sin and envy is a most universal sin.

So we need to stop pouting, coveting or tearing others down because it does not elevate our standing. We are just unhappy. We should be grateful that God is kind. It is a happy way to live.

Elder Holland then says:

My beloved brothers and sisters, what happened in this story at 9:00 or noon or 3:00 is swept up in the grandeur of the universally generous payment at the end of the day. The formula of faith is to hold on, work on, see it through, and let the distress of earlier hours—real or imagined—fall away in the abundance of the final reward. Don’t dwell on old issues or grievances—not toward yourself nor your neighbor nor even, I might add, toward this true and living Church. The majesty of your life, of your neighbor’s life, and of the gospel of Jesus Christ will be made manifest at the last day, even if such majesty is not always recognized by everyone in the early going. So don’t hyperventilate about something that happened at 9:00 in the morning when the grace of God is trying to reward you at 6:00 in the evening—whatever your labor arrangements have been through the day.

The story is a story about God’s mercy and goodness, especially when we didn’t expect it or deserve it. It’s a story about forgiveness and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It’s a story of not looking back. We arrive at this faith at different times in our lives. Good things like tender mercies happen to us but happen at different times.

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My Soul Delighteth

I was reading the scriptures this morning and found these verses in 2 Nephi 11:

5 And also my soul delighteth in the covenants of the Lord which he hath made to our fathers; yea, my soul delighteth in his grace, and in his justice, and power, and mercy in the great and eternal plan of deliverance from death.
6 And my soul delighteth in proving unto my people that save Christ should come all men must perish.
7 For if there be no Christ there be no God; and if there be no God we are not, for there could have been no creation. But there is a God, and he is Christ, and he cometh in the fulness of his own time.

I like verse 5 because he delights in grace and mercy. Why would I delight in grace unless it was active in my life where I continue to sin?



I like verse 6 because I like proving that all men must perish without Christ.





I like verse 7 because it shows the relationship between God and creation. However creation happened it had active involvement with God. If not, the atheists are right. No need for God. Non-God involved evolution undermines everything (no God, no Christ, no Justice, no Mercy, no right or wrong….). God involved creation is very important. If not, everything unravels. Satan knows this.