THE ELEVENTH HOUR! 10/28/12

BECAUSE THIS IS AN ELECTION YEAR,  and this week is coming down to the wire as to who I should vote for, some would call this ‘the eleventh hour!’   In Oregon we vote by mail! Actually, I have already voted and placed my ballot in the red, white and blue voting box in the back of the Government Center building.   We usually vote as soon as we receive the ballot. My minds made up, get it done and all is well; because we vote for character and morality and let God take care of the rest.

WHEN I THOUGHT about the eleventh hour I decided I should do my home work. In the book called “Why You Say It” by Webb Garrison, I found what I needed to know and now I would like to share that with you. The Babylonians, the Greeks and the Hebrews adopted the use of the sundials whose face were in twelve segments. Hours were counted from daylight to dusk which meant darkness around the number twelve..

WESTERN civilization modified the timekeeping so that 12:00 came to mark both noon and midnight. That means the sun is hardly halfway across the heavens at 11:00 am and has disappeared by that hour at 11:00 pm. When I was in highschool, one of my favorite memories is of the sundial we had at the front right of the main building that faced a busy street. I never could figure out how to read it but I would go and look at the face many, many times. I always thought of it as being huge, but in reality it is smaller than I am, because when I stood in front of it, I had to look down; just a little bit.

A NEW TESTAMENT parable found in Matthew 20:1-16 tells about the man who went out to hire some laborers early in the morning. The day began at 6:00 am, he returned at 9:00 am, 12:00 noon, 3:00 pm, and at 5:00 pm which left one hour  to work; the eleventh hour!  They all worked in the vineyard until quitting time. He then called all the laborers in and beginning with those he hired last, up to the first hirelings, he paid them their wages. He paid them all the same wage, regardless of what hour they began to work. The first group complained; “they had worked longer than those he hired last, yet they had been paid the same as they were!”

OF COURSE this story is related to the fact that God’s grace is the same for all who respond to His call regardless of good deeds.. The length of years of service to the Lord, does not insure more blessings in heaven than the sinner who turns to God in faith at the eleventh hour. I suppose getting paid money is something to question, but aren’t you glad that God doesn’t look at salvation in the same way?

THIS PARABLE is such that we still borrow from it. “And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing and he said to them; “Why do you stand here, idle all day?” They said to him; “Because no one has hired us.” He said to them; “You go into the vineyard too.” Matthew 20:6-7   Despite the position of the sun at the time, we continue to say that the eleventh hour is the last possible time to make a decision or to take action.

LEAVING IMPORTANT decisions or taking important actions at the eleventh hour, can be dangerous. Whether voting, applying for a job, getting a good seat at a large gathering, clocking in at your start time or even clocking out so you are paid appropriately are important. How many times have you missed out because you were too late? I am sure you get the point! Leaving things to the last minute means you could be late for dinner!

LEAVING your decision or taking needed action when it comes to the Lord is also dangerous.  Remember the parable of the ten virgins who went to meet the bridegroom? Five were ready and five were not! When the bridegroom had come, the five that were prepared to go into meet him, did! But the other five had to go and get more oil. They tried to borrow, even though there would not be sufficient oil for all. When the five returned the door was closed. “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour!”
Matthew 25:13       By Jane Ann Crenshaw 10/27/12