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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness Gal 5:22 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Thursday, June 23, 2022
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :Many of the last will be first. Bible Verse:Matthew 19:27-30 (ESV) "Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first." Message:
Notes on the Scripture
A
fter all of the scary stuff, about it being easier for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get to heaven, it is time for some comfort! The apostles themselves were made anxious; in verse 25 they even ask, “Who then can be saved?” The question can only mean that they fear salvation is impossible, that the requirements are too tough.
But Jesus’ words, “through God all things are possible” gives hope to all; for God can, indeed, make a camel fit through the needle’s eye. We must remember always that the salvation of Christ is not, first and foremost, a salvation of works. It cannot be had by acts alone. It occurs in the heart and soul, when we receive the Holy Spirit.
But then we must go back to the preceding verses; holding onto the things of this world makes salvation more difficult and might make it impossible. Faith without works is, in the words of James, “dead”. If the Spirit is strong in us, we will naturally follow Christ more strongly.
The lack of a Mosaic law, the lack of a specific set of external requirements that will ensure our salvation, is sometimes disquieting. But we must remember, first, that righteousness through law failed. God only gave the law of Moses, in fact, so that we might realize that we cannot follow it. Anyone who thinks that he has done enough good deeds to earn his place in heaven is kidding himself.
But Jesus does promise heaven to the apostles, those who have given up everything — possessions, friends, family, comforts — to follow him. And (to interpret the passage), his teaching “that many who are first will be last” seems to indicate that heaven holds greater and lesser rewards, or at least, some sort of hierarchy. Christ speaks repeatedly to the effect that our actions “lay up treasure in heaven” for us, or that some will be more blessed in the afterlife than others. He might mean this literally, i.e., the more closely we follow him, the greater our joy when the new order arrives. Or, he might simply be trying to depict heaven in terms we can understand.
Nevertheless, we must strive for holiness in everything we do. We must not lie to ourselves. Loving our money, giving in to our materialism and vanity, our pride, our anger, are terrible sins, and we must constantly strive to overcome them.
Meditation : “To feel sorry for the needy is not the mark of a Christian – to help them is.” Prayer : Now the God of patience and consolation grant to me, and to all who pray in the name of Christ, to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: That we may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ......Amen |
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