I won't I won't I won't

The Parable of the Two Sons

28"What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.'

29" 'I will not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

30"Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go.

31"Which of the two did what his father wanted?"
"The first," they answered.

Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

I don't know if I could add anything to this. It is so powerful - but let me shine a little more light on it, and perhaps bring a few minor changes to the language to show you how it seemed to poke me right in the heart as I read it this morning.

I have said many times that I find it interesting that we judge others by their behaviors (what they DO), yet we judge ourselves by our motivations (what we MEAN or MEANT to do). Further, we tend to judge others - or at least classify them - according to their outward appearance. Yet we have it clearly spelled out in scripture that, "God judges the heart." In choosing a king for Israel, this is written: 1 Sam 16:7Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

So - this passage from Matthew 21 - what does it tell us? That our attitude is more important than our actions. NO, our actions are not unimportant. They are important. But our attitude is MORE important. I'm sure we have all seen a child demand to get something. "I want it" seems to carry so much weight to a child that they expect it to be like a magic word: all they have to do is explain to mommy or daddy that they want something, and heaven and earth will be moved in order to satisfy that want.

Funny, some of us never lose that childish tendency, do we? The prostitutes and tax collectors will enter heaven before us.