The 6 a.m. Student

By Doug Franklin November 21, 2013

Jesus tells this story of a land owner who wants to hire men. He goes to the market where people looking for work hang-out. The land owner starts at 6am and hires a few guys and comes back throughout the day hiring anyone who is willing to work. He hires his last man around 5pm giving them just one hour to work. As you know, the land owner decides to pay every man equally making the men hired in the early morning angry. In this story, Jesus is the land owner and we are the hired workers.  We tell this story to illustrate why God lets people go to heaven who come to know him in the last days and hours of their lives.

What about the men hired early in the day or the students who accept Christ early in life? They have no real story of transformation to tell, no story of drug abuse or near death conversation. How do we encourage them with what God is doing in their lives? How do we express the value to them of following Christ for their wholes lives? I believe we need to place a higher value on faithfulness. We need to tell stories of whole lives that are given to Christ. Here is my idea; ask senior men and women from your church to come to your youth group and tell stories of faithfulness. I would call these legacy stories. Students need to see the value for being hired early and for spending a whole life serving their Lord.