2181 Parable of the Vineyard Workers
2181 Parable of the Vineyard Workers  
Podcast: BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women
Published On: Tue Aug 18 2026
Description: Jesus has great news for us today: We can be screwed up and late to the game, but if we will simply be available and show up, God has grace for us, work for us to do, and a great reward in store. Matthew 20: 1-15: For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work. At nine o’clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing. So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day. So they went to work in the vineyard. At noon and again at three o’clock he did the same thing. At five o’clock that afternoon he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’ “They replied, ‘Because no one hired us.’ “The landowner told them, “Then go out and join the others in my vineyard.” That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first. When those hired at five o’clock were paid, each received a full day’s wage. When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day’s wage. When they received their pay, they protested to the owner, “Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.” He answered one of them, “Friend, I haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage? Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?” God is looking for absolutely anyone who is available. It doesn’t matter if you think you’re unqualified. It doesn’t matter if you feel you’re too late. It doesn’t matter if you’ve wasted years chasing the wrong thing and racking up a long record of losing. GOD WANTS YOU DOING HIS WORK IN HIS VINEYARD. The world all around you is his vineyard. Everywhere he has work to be done. All he has ever asked of you is to be available to him. If you are available, then you’re in! 1. You are never too late to get in the vineyard. Some were there at dawn. Others at 9. Others at noon. Others at 3. And some didn’t get invited to come and work until late in the day at 5 pm. There was barely any time in the day even left, but the landowner still said, “Come work in my vineyard.” And here’s what that means to you – Your past doesn’t disqualify your future. You may look at your life with regret and think you should have started sooner, you wasted so many years, you made too many bad decisions, and you don’t have enough time left. But let me tell you something – God isn’t intimidated by how much time you’ve wasted. He’s not asking “Girl, why weren’t you here at 8 am. He’s asking, “ARE YOU AVAILABLE NOW?!!!!!!” Look around and you’ll see others who are so far ahead of you – and that’s okay. There are some who have written 5 books already, turned there hardship around for good, and walking in a full harvest. Good for them. That doesn’t take an ounce of God’s light from you. You have light and there’s time for you to get to work! It’s never too late to become useful in the hands of God. Are you ready to get started now? 2. God doesn’t need you qualified. He needs you available. Notice what the landowner asked the people at 5 PM: “Why haven’t you been working today?” And their answer was basically, “Nobody hired us.” They weren’t saying, “We don’t want to work.” They were saying, “Nobody gave us a place.” And the landowner immediately gave them one. Sometimes we’re waiting for for the perfect opportunity, or more experience, or more knowledge, or more confidence – all while there is work to do right where we are. Sis, you don’t have to be impressive to be useful. You don’t have to have a platform to have influence. You don’t have to know everything to help somebody. You just have to say: “God, I’m available.” And then look around. Who needs encouragement? Who needs prayer? Who needs someone to listen? Who needs Jesus? Who needs what God has already put inside of you? There’s your work! 3. The vineyard is wherever God has placed you. Humans are funny in our pursuit of the perfect place. We think we have to have some sort of big spiritual assignment to be effective for God. All while we miss that the vineyard is your LIFE. It’s all around you. The work is here. Your home is a vineyard. Your marriage is a vineyard. Your friendships are a vineyard. Your workplace is a vineyard. Your neighborhood is a vineyard. Your children’s lives are a vineyard. The woman sitting next to you at the coffee shop may be a vineyard. You don’t have to go somewhere extraordinary to do God’s work. God’s work is happening in ordinary places through ordinary people who are willing to participate. Isn’t it wild to think the Creator of the universe is literally inviting you to come be part of his work with him? That Jesus, the savior of the world, has chosen YOU to be his partner. 1 Corinthians 1:9, “God has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” And then what’s really wild is to think that exactly where you are – where you live, where you work, where you drive every day – none of that is an accident. God has placed you exactly where you are in his vineyard, right where he wanted you, because there’s work there for you. How often we miss the vineyard so desperate for workers all around us, thinking we have to go somewhere else to partner with God in his mission. Girl, your home is a mission! Have you missed that? 4. Don’t waste today mourning yesterday. The workers hired at 5 PM couldn’t go back and reclaim the morning. They couldn’t say, “Give me the hours I missed.” They had one choice: Use the hour they had left. That’s us. You can’t go back and parent differently. You can’t go back and make the better decision. You can’t go back and say yes to the opportunity you missed. You can’t go back and recover the years you spent chasing the wrong things. But you can do something with today. You can’t change the hours you’ve lost, but you can surrender the hours you have left. If the landowner was willing to hire workers at 5 pm for the tiny amount of time left in that work day, then Jesus is telling us the little time we have left is of value too. You and I have time left. We don’t know how much time, but we have some. God is not hung up on where you’ve been until now – He’s asking if you’re available now. Yes – GREAT! 5. Don’t let comparison steal your gratitude. This is where the parable takes a sharp turn. The people who worked all day weren’t upset because they were cheated. They were upset because someone else was blessed. They received the payment they were promised, but when they saw those who worked far less than them receive the same pay, they were now unhappy. The landowner says: “Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?” Ouch. How often do we secretly resent God’s generosity toward someone else? “Why did she get that? – Why did God answer her prayer? – Why does her marriage look so good? – Why did she get that opportunity?” And Jesus essentially says: Why are you making somebody else’s blessing an insult to you? God’s goodness to her does not mean God’s goodness to you has run out. Someone else’s blessing is not evidence of your lack. 6. Don’t turn your obedience into a contract with God. The first workers had an agreement: A day’s wage for a day’s work. And they got exactly what they agreed to. But somewhere along the way, they began calculating. Here’s what that looks like in our heads: I worked more, I sacrificed more, I’ve been faithful longer, therefore I deserve more. God owes me. That’s dangerous spiritually! Does God really owe you? God is not our employer. We’re not earning God’s love through our performance. We’re not accumulating points with God. We’re not competing for a bigger piece of heaven. We are His. And everything he gives us is ultimately grace. I hope God doesn’t give me what I deserve because I don’t deserve heaven. I don’t deserve forgiveness. I don’t deserve his blessings. I certainly don’t deserve Jesus. I can only hope to receive his grace. Sometimes we want God to operate according to fairness. But if God gave us exactly what was fair, we’d all be in trouble. We want justice when someone else has wronged us. But we want grace when we’re the ones who have messed up. The message of Jesus isn’t that God gives everyone what they deserve. The message of Jesus is that God gives us what we could never deserve. That’s why the 5 PM worker is such good news. I’m the 5 PM worker over here getting what I don’t deserve simply because God is so good and generous. 7. Your reward isn’t based on how impressive your story looks. One woman may have followed Jesus since childhood. Another may meet Him at 70. One may have a dramatic testimony. Another may have a quiet one. One may preach to thousands. Another may faithfully love the five people God put around her. God doesn’t measure significance the way we do. The woman who spends decades faithfully serving God isn’t more loved than the woman who finally surrenders at the end of her life. And the woman who arrives late isn’t less valuable because she arrived late. The value isn’t in when you entered the vineyard. The value is in whose vineyard you’re working in. The workers who came at 5 PM didn’t know how much they would receive. They simply said yes to the invitation they had. That’s faith. God doesn’t always tell you what the assignment will produce. He just says, “Come work with Me.” And maybe that’s the invitation for us today: Stop calculating whether you’re late. Stop comparing your vineyard to somebody else’s. Stop worrying about whether you’re qualified. Stop mourning the hours you wasted. Stop asking whether there’s enough time left. The question isn’t, “How much time do I have?” The question is, “What will I do with the time I have?” Because if you’re still breathing, the Landowner is still calling. And if He’s still calling… there’s still work for you to do. Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com