Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The Alpha

"Look, I am coming soon!" My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the last, the Beginning and the End."    
                                                         Revelation 22:12-13

The Bible has the great capacity to convict our hearts to action. I was reminded of this while reading the story Jesus told in Matthew 21:28-32. It's about two brothers:

     "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.'
     "'I will not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
     "Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered,'I will, sir,' but he did not go.
     "Which of the two did what his father wanted?"

For me, reading that parable was like getting punched in the chest. I am the son who said he'd go work in the vineyard, but didn't. I am the daughter who isn't doing what her father wanted.

Why?
Because it's too hard and I like easy

But I was convicted and went to work. So now I'm behaving more like the first son and I've already been rewarded. To make a long story short, for several years, I've felt God calling me to study and learn Biblical Greek.

Let me just tell you that learning a dead language is extremely difficult. I've had many false starts and the work requires so much effort, that it's easy to put it aside for more "important" things. It's also lonely. I've no friends to study with, and learning grammar and memorizing vocabulary words isn't at the top of my bucket list.

But I know he wants me to work in his vineyard, so I'm going to do it anyway.

Yesterday during my study time, something awesome happened. I'd set the timer for one hour, and at minute fifty-eight, all of a sudden I could see. It was as if a light shined on the inside of my eyes and I could suddenly see that for the past two years, I haven't been forming the Alpha correctly.



The Alpha is key to understanding Greek; the alpha is the beginning of the Greek alphabet. All of a sudden, I feel like I'm in the middle of a new beginning. I sure know I need one.

How about you? Has God given you a job to do? Are you more like the first son or the second?

It's never too late to get to work.

1 comment:

  1. Yes, God has given me a job to do, and I am actually doing it :) It is difficult but I know that He is constantly filling me, calming me, assuring me and providing for me. He is working and I get to be the witness to something great happening. There are obstacles, but He removes them, there are problems, but He solves them. I keep praying and I know God is working, and I am learning in the process.
    Thank you for your writing, I check in regularly to see whats new and always enjoy your posts.

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