"And the tenants took his servants and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they treated them the same way."

Imagine you own a beautiful farm and decide to lease it to tenants. You provide everything they need - rich soil, protective fencing, all the equipment, even workers to help them. The only agreement is simple: when harvest time comes, you get your fair share of what the land produces. Sounds reasonable, right?

But what if those tenants decided they liked your farm so much that they wanted to keep everything for themselves? What if they took your incredible provision and said, "This is ours now. We don't owe you anything."

That's exactly what happened in Jesus' parable, and it's exactly what happens when we become failed tenants in God's vineyard.

Here's the thing about being a tenant - you're not the owner. You're entrusted with something that belongs to someone else, and that comes with responsibility. God has made America an incredible vineyard. He's blessed us with freedoms, opportunities, resources, and prosperity that most of the world can only dream about. But we were never meant to hoard these blessings just for our own comfort.

The failed tenants in Jesus' story represent leaders who took God's incredible gifts and used them for their own aggrandizement. They got so comfortable enjoying the master's provision that they forgot they were supposed to produce something in return. Sound familiar?

We see this happening all around us. Leaders - both in government and in churches - who take the blessings God has poured out on our nation and use them for their own benefit instead of producing fruit that honors Him. But here's the hard truth: it's not just happening "out there" with other people.

How often do we take God's incredible blessings in our own lives - our health, our families, our opportunities, our freedoms - and spend them entirely on ourselves? We live like we own the vineyard instead of remembering we're just tenants.

God didn't bless America so we could be the most comfortable nation on earth. He blessed us so we could be a blessing to the nations, just like He told Abraham. And He didn't bless you personally so you could live for your own pleasure - He blessed you so you could produce fruit that glorifies Him and blesses others.

Failed tenants always think they're smarter than the master. They convince themselves that holding onto everything tightly is better than the master's plan for multiplication and sharing.

Take one blessing in your life that you've been using primarily for your own comfort and find a way to use it today to bless someone else or advance God's kingdom.