The Landowner replied, “Take what belongs to you and go;
I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you.
Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?
Or are you envious because I am generous?”
—Matthew 20.14-15
There is no such thing as deserving. None.
No one is owed anything.
One’s work, behavior, virtue or sin is irrelevant.
God loves each of us the same—infinitely—
according to God’s love, not our “deserving.”
God is free from our past:
God’s love isn’t determined by what we’ve done.
The devil wants you to fear
that God doesn’t really forgive, doesn’t just plain love,
but demands some kind of transaction,
some making up for something,
some reward or punishment, some quid pro quo.
This is how Satan gets us to eat the fruit of the Tree
of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Oh, how smart we are.
Jesus will have none of it.
He rips at our secure place in the caste system
(not up with the saints but higher than those people… ).
And he rips at our assuming to measure.
And our assuming (how handy for us!)
we are owed more than others.
Listen: Everybody gets God’s love, everybody the same.
Listen to your heart when I say that.
Everybody gets God’s love just the same. Everybody.
Even you know who.
What in you wants to say, “But….”?
Is that God’s voice.. or something else?
Why do you fight against the infinity of God’s love?
What is the fear, the hurt you hang onto?
What if you were to let go, and let God love?
What if there is no deserving, but only giving and receiving?
What if you are one of those who is given
way more than you earned?
Will you fuss… or just say thanks?
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
September 15, 2020