God is always more of everything good. I love being a musician because everything we strive for in the craft is pointed toward the good. Music gives others hope and roots them in community because people listen to your craft together, and that is why it is a serious craft: one must be well-trained and prepared at all times to make their music beautiful to the listener. Being a musician helps one strive for more good in life.

Today, the prophet calls us to strive for more good. Isaiah says, “Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near. Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked his thoughts; let him turn to the LORD for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving” (Isaiah 55:6-7). God will never stop surprising us! And it will not be by his mercy by which we are surprised; it will be by his generosity. Mother Teresa of Calcutta was known for saying, “God cannot be outdone in generosity.” So seek God while he may be found now. Seek him at every moment in life, for he calls you to more life. Seek him in the little things, for he wants to give you more good than harm.

Saint Paul reminds us in his letter to the Philippians that seeking Christ in this life is more important than obtaining things. He said, “For to me life is Christ, and death is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Paul is making clear that Christ is our life. He is not only the source and root of life; Jesus is the very reason we exist. He will later say in the same letter, “whatever gains I had, these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ … For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish” (Philippians 3:7-8). Rubbish in Greek is skubala and translates to garbage, dung, table scraps. It is a strong, graphic metaphor for worthless waste. So everything in this life we try to have, even success, fame, and wealth, is skubala in comparison to knowing Christ. So seek Christ so that your death is meaningful and rich, for in death we step through the doorway and see our Lord as he is.

In our Lord’s parable, he called workers at different times of the day to work in his vineyard and at the end of the day, he gave them all the same generous wage. The first workers complained that everyone received the same amount. If there is one sin that ridiculously captures our imagination, it is envy. Envy is stupid because it never gives us an ounce of joy; all it does is make us grumblers about what is fair. Today’s gospel hits hard at the end about resenting others. God is our only judge, and he determines how each person is to be loved in every moment of life. His love governs his justice. It is not our place to judge God’s decisions and generosity. Our place is to be obedient and generous ourselves. Life is measured by godly love more than it is about fairness.

Ultimately, our life is a life of praise to God. Today’s psalm is a psalm of praise. It is the only psalm that has the singular word ‘praise’ as its subscription. The opening line opens us to a litany of praise, from a general reference to awesome deeds (145:6) to specifics of God’s compassion, mercy, and goodness (145:8-9). God is worthy of our praise because of his justice and holiness. It is his goodness and kingdom that we all desire to possess. The most fitting response we can give to God, who always takes the initiative in our lives, is praise.