For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. Matthew 20:1, 2. (Read Matthew 20:1-16.)

Christ taught by means of figures and symbols. On one occasion He spoke a parable in regard to the hiring of laborers to illustrate the way in which God deals with those who devote themselves to His service….

It was the custom in Judea for men to wait at the marketplaces for someone to come and employ them; and in Europe this custom is still in vogue. Those who need help go to the marketplace to find servants that they may employ. The man in the parable is represented as going out at different hours to engage workmen. Those he hired at the earliest hour agreed to work for him for a stated sum of money, while those who were hired later left the wages they were to receive wholly to the discretion of the householder.

“So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.” …

The lesson of the laborers had a bearing upon the question about which the disciples had disputed by the way—who should be greatest in the kingdom of heaven. The world’s Redeemer saw the danger that would imperil His church, and sought to arouse His people to an understanding of their position; for this parable was but a continuation of the lesson taught when Peter asked, “Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?” …

With implicit trust we are to stay upon God, and let the heart rest in Him without a question as to what is to be our measure of reward….

Jesus would have those who are engaged in His service not [be] eager for rewards nor feel that they must receive compensation for all that they do…. The Lord measures the spirit, and rewards accordingly, and the pure, humble, childlike spirit of love makes the offering precious in His sight.—The Review and Herald, July 3, 1894.

From From the Heart

The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself saying, “What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?” Luke 12:16, 17.

This man had received everything from God. The sun had been permitted to shine upon his land; for it falls on the just and on the unjust alike. The showers of heaven fall on the evil and the good. The Lord had caused vegetation to flourish, and the fields to yield fruit, and bring to perfection an abundant harvest. The rich man was in perplexity as to what he should do with all his produce. He regarded himself as favored above others and took credit to himself for his wisdom. He had great wealth, and could not reproach himself with the sins of which many were guilty. He had obtained his goods, not by gambling, not by taking advantage of another’s misfortune who had been involved in financial embarrassment and who was obliged to sell his goods below cost; but his wealth had been obtained through the providence of God in causing his land to yield abundantly. But the man revealed his selfishness, and manifested that which he did not before suspect was in his character.

He did not think of God, the great giver of all his blessings. He did not consider his accountability to God…. Had he loved and feared God, he would have offered up thanksgiving and bowed before God, saying, “Instruct me how to use these goods.” …

How many hungry could have been fed, how many naked clothed, how many hearts made glad, how many prayers answered for bread and clothing, and what a melody of praise could he have caused to ascend to heaven. The Lord was answering the prayers of the poor and needy and was making abundant provision for the supply of all their wants by the blessing He had bestowed upon the rich man. But the man made suddenly so rich closed the avenues of his soul to the cry of the needy; and in place of disposing of his superabundance of goods in supplying their needs, he said to his servants, “This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.” …

He said, “I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” … God said unto him, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.”—The Review and Herald, June 19, 1894.

From From the Heart

But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience. Luke 8:15.

But if the love of the world, if self-esteem or any defiling thoughts or actions, obtain the victory over us, then shall we lose confidence in Jesus, or in ourselves? Is it because Jesus failed us and did not supply us with His grace? No; it is because we did not do what the Lord has told us to do, “Watch unto prayer”; “Pray always”; “Pray without ceasing.”

How can your soul be in health when you shut yourself away from prayer and have no connection with Christ, the source of all spiritual light and life and power? We must have a constant connection with Christ, for He is our sustenance. He is that bread which came down from heaven. Then let us be doers of His word, and we shall have spiritual life and power. We must place ourselves often before God as suppliants, because prayer brings the soul into immediate contact with God through Jesus Christ. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. If Christians fail, it is because they do not obey the orders of their Captain. They are off guard; they are not Christlike. It will work disaster to the soul to neglect prayer, for you will be led to yield carelessly to temptation. But if you do yield, do not therefore cast away your confidence in God; lose confidence in yourself, and press closer to the side of Christ.

Christ is not to be charged with the results of the negligence and indecision. He who gave His life to save fallen men and women appreciates the value of the soul. He will never fail of doing His part nor become discouraged. He will never leave the erring one, tempted and tried in the conflict. “My grace is sufficient for thee.” “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able.” He weighs and measures every trial before He permits it to come….

The opposition we meet may prove a benefit to us in many ways. If it is well borne, it will develop virtues which would never have appeared if the Christian had nothing to endure. And faith, patience, forbearance, heavenly mindedness, trust in Providence, and genuine sympathy with the erring, are the results of trial well borne….

If the word is received into good and honest hearts, the stubborn soul will be subdued, and faith, grasping the promises and relying upon Jesus, will prove triumphant.—The Review and Herald, June 28, 1892.

From From the Heart

But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Matthew 13:8.

What an encouragement it is that the sower is not always to meet with disappointment. The seed is sometimes received into honest hearts. The hearers comprehend the truth and do not resist the Holy Spirit or refuse to receive the impression of truth upon their hearts…. They receive the truth into the heart, and it accomplishes its transforming work upon the character. They are not able to change their own hearts, but the Holy Spirit, through their obedience to the truth, sanctifies the soul.

The good heart does not mean a heart without sin, for the gospel is to be preached to the lost. Jesus says, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Convicted sinners see themselves as transgressors in the great moral mirror, God’s holy law. They look upon the Savior upon the cross of Calvary and ask why this great sacrifice was made; and the cross points to the holy law of God, which has been transgressed. It was to save the transgressor from ruin that He who was coequal with God offered up His life on Calvary…. The law has no power to pardon the evil-doer; but Jesus has taken the sins of the transgressor upon Himself, and as a sinner exercises faith in Him as the sacrifice, Christ imputes His own righteousness to the guilty one. There has been but one way of salvation since the days of Adam. “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” We have no reason to fear while we are looking to Jesus, believing that He is able to save all who come unto Him.

As the result of active faith in Christ we are brought into the moral warfare with the world, the flesh, and the devil. If we undertake this warfare in our own wisdom, our human ability, we shall certainly be overcome; but if we exercise living faith in Jesus, and practice godliness, we shall understand what it means to be sanctified through the truth, and we shall not be overcome in the conflict, for heavenly angels encamp around about us. Christ is the captain of our salvation. He it is who strengthens His followers for the moral conflict which they are pledged to undertake….

Those who open the Scriptures and feed upon the heavenly manna become partakers of the divine nature. They have no life or experience apart from Christ…. They know that in character they must be like Him with whom God is well pleased.—The Review and Herald, June 28, 1892.

From From the Heart

And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. Matthew 13:7.

In the thorns that choke the good seed, the Great Teacher would depict the dangers that are around those who hear the Word of God; for there are foes on every hand to make of no effect the precious truth of God. All that draws the affections from God, all that fills the attention so that Christ has no room in the heart, must be renounced if the seed of truth is to flourish in the soul. Jesus specifies the things that are dangerous to the soul. He says the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things, choke the word, the growing spiritual seed, so that the soul does not draw nourishment from Christ, as does the branch from the vine, and the spiritual life dies from the heart. Love of the world, love of its pleasures and display, and love of other things keep the soul away from God; for those who love the world do not depend upon God for their courage, their hope, their joy. They know not what it is to have the joy of Christ, for this is the joy of leading others to the Fountain of life, of winning souls from sin to righteousness….

When those who have but a partial knowledge of the truth are called upon to study some point that cuts across their preconceived opinions, they are confused. Their preconceived opinions are as thorns that choke the Word of God, and when truth is sown, and it becomes necessary to root up the thorns to give it place, they feel that everything is going from them, and they are in trouble.

There are many who have but an imperfect understanding of the character of God. They think of Him as stern and arbitrary, and when the fact is presented that God is love, it is a difficult matter for these souls to lay aside their false conceptions of God. But if they do not let the Word of truth in, rooting out the thorns, the briers will start up afresh and choke out the good Word of God; their religious experience will be dwarfed, for the evil of their hearts will overtop the tender plant of truth, and shut away the spiritual atmosphere….

The law of God is the rule of God’s government, and through eternal ages it will be the standard of His kingdom…. If we do not yield to its requirements in this life, learning to love God with all our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves, we shall meet with no change in character at the appearing of Jesus.—The Review and Herald, June 21, 1892.

From From the Heart