Welcome to our new project, the Daily Bible Devotional. The goal is to help you understand and

apply scripture as you go through a New Testament Bible read five days a week, Monday through

Friday as we move from Matthew straight through to Revelation. In under four minutes each morning, we will recap the chapter,

make some application, present thought questions for the day, and offer a prayer together.

I'm excited about exploring God's word with you, so let's get started.

Hey, good morning. Let's look in Matthew chapter 20. We begin with a quote from the text,

So the last shall be first, and the first last. Jesus explains this teaching with a parable.

Workers are hired throughout the day, each agreeing to a day's wage. At the end of the day,

every worker is paid the same amount. Those who were there first were angry.

The point here is about God's willingness to save anyone, and our need to be humble and grateful.

The disciples struggle with this at times.

Later in the chapter, even after Jesus described his coming death, the mother of James and John asked for her sons to have

exalted positions. All the disciples get upset with this. Jesus informs them that the kingdom is

about service, mercy, and selflessness. Jesus then demonstrates this by healing two blind men who begged for his help.

Here are some follow-up thoughts. Those who pridefully yearned to be first in the kingdom may miss it

altogether. If Jesus had been that way, he would not have died for us, and we would be lost. The

parable of the workers is designed to humble the Jews

because many would later be upset by Gentiles being added to the kingdom. But it is also important

for us. Maybe we're like the disciples, hoping to be rewarded for our labor. If our focus is on

ourselves and what we deserve, then we miss the entire point of the

kingdom. We might miss that compassion for others and service to others, even those who come after us,

is what Christ and His kingdom are all about. Let me see if we can challenge each other with a few

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