The Reward is the Same

 A good man, he lived a life devoted to serving others; however, he did not accept the gospel of Jesus Christ until he was into his 60s. When he did get baptized, he embraced the gospel with all his might. He lived the principles as near he could and he continued to serve his fellow man as much as he could. 

I lived in a household where I was taught the gospel from a young age and I decided to embrace those teachings and apply them to my life. I was baptized as a child and continued to learn about the gospel from that day. Although I haven't always been successful, I have tried my best to live according to those teachings and hold true to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Richard lived only a few more years after his baptism before he passed away. His departure from this life is difficult to those who love him. It isn't because we are worried about his salvation. We miss him dearly. Richard and I had talked many times about how late in his life he accepted the gospel. He worried that he may have acted too late. He felt he had a lot of catching up to do. 

During our discussions, we would invariably turn to the parable Jesus told of a householder who hired laborers at various times through the day (Matthew 20:1-16). To those he hired first, he agreed to pay the usual wage of a penny, sending them into the vineyard. Later, he hired others agreeing to pay them “whatsoever is right”. The householder continued throughout the day to hire more laborers with the same promise to pay a fare wage.

After the day was done, the householder payed the laborers starting with those who came last. He paid them a penny for their labors. Those who worked from the start of the day assumed they would be paid more than the agreed upon penny because they had worked longer than these. When the householder paid them their penny, they complained that he had “made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.”

The householder's response to their query was simple, “friend, I do thee no wrong … is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?”

It is important to understand that whether we are called to the vineyard early in the day or not until the eleventh hour, our reward will be the same. Richard, who wasn't called to labor until very late in his life, will receive the same reward for his labors as those who received their call early in the first hour. The Father promises that all who labor in His vineyard will be made “equal in power, and in might, and in dominion” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:95).

I am grateful that the Lord will surely pay “whatsoever is right.”