Better Late Than Never

We, as Christians, have a nasty habit. We often behave like the keepers to the "Member's Only Club." We repeat the words Jesus spoke to his disciples, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). But I have wondered whether we truly understand the nature of that statement.

A number of years ago during a service I was approached by a man whom I had never seen before and haven't seen since, who asked me when I had been saved, as though, somehow, it was important that I give him some point of entry date.

Without quite realizing the arrogance of the question I told him 1992. Later on, feeling a bit put out by it all, I left with a bad taste in my mouth wondering how many other unsuspecting victims had crossed his path that day. Fortunately for me, the incident was forgotten and put into the deep-six folder, but it was never completely purged.

The whole thing reminds me of the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16).

¹"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. ²He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

³"About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ⁴He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' ⁵So they went.

"He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. ⁶About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?'

⁷" 'Because no one has hired us,' they answered.
"He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.'

⁸"When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.'

⁹"The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. ¹⁰So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. ¹¹When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ¹²'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'

¹³"But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. ¹⁵Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?'

¹⁶"So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

I believe the path to God is much wider than we have been led to believe. As Steve put it to me, it's like a funnel, very wide on top and narrow on the bottom. Many are called. But who knows when their conversion will take place. It might be in that last breath that they take before they meet their maker, or it might be much earlier when they are young and virile. Who is to know. But one thing, for which I am certain, no one gets extra credit for being first in line.