Heralds Digest

  “ But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first .” Matthew‬ ‭19:30‬ ‭KJV‬‬ Everyone knows that relationships feed on fondness, fellowship, and affection for the parties involved, and not necessarily the property or materials carried by and derived through the parties. When the waters run dry in relationships with fondness on the flow, it is easy to understand why excuses become one of the familiar recipes. Likewise, relationship with God requires fondness with God, and serving Him consistently with gladness of heart. No one can develop fondness with any other things besides God at the Centre always; and not equally discover reasons to deliver excuses in his relationship with God. Therefore, when Jesus said “ But many that are first shall be last ”, He was referring to those whose relationship with God has been allowed to feed on familiarity, instead of the seasoned sweetness in fellowship. There is freshness in every fellowship opportunity with God, for those...

  “ At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven ”. Matthew‬ ‭18:1-4‬ ‭KJV‬‬ Rights and privileges grow with positions in life. Therefore, human aspiration for positions are driven by the ease of passage with greater rights and privileges. But in Jesus’ response to the disciples’ question ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? ’, it is evident that the abuse of rights and privileges is not acceptable in the kingdom of heaven. While the world standard encourages the pursuit of status and position, only those who are converted from being a mighty man to being a meek minion can enter into the kingdom of hea...

  “ For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it .” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16:25‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ The prudent expense of treasure, talent, and time has different known scales of rewarding excellence, like the highest net worth of economic value, the first class of academic value, the most influential of social value, etc. People who pursue these scales will reasonably pay attention to the principle of saving than spending, especially when there is no proven evidence of a worthwhile investment in the spending. Therefore, beyond treasure, talent, and time, we seem to spend our lives on projects and people with guaranteed returns of investment. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as guaranteed return of investment for any life spent outside the Will of God. Only the life spent pursuing the purpose of God for its existence is guaranteed to receive the prize of achievement at the end of time. The desires to save our lives encourage children of Go...

  “ And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. ” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭14:14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Like the multitude of followers in the days of Christ’s earthly ministry, the multitude of religious enthusiasts in our days are fractured followers. Moving from one mountain to another, people are plagued with societal challenges, economic instability, political manipulation, health problems, and social insecurity. However, unlike the response of Jesus with His own multitude, many ministers of the gospel today can hardly see beyond the people’s gorgeous regalia, numerical strength, and political force, with a mere and possible need of physical healing. And while His disciples were tired of accommodating them, Jesus got them seated for ministrations on their physical and spiritual needs. Likewise, people today are not just maimed physically; good looking people are surrounded by deep-seated emotional and spiritual distraught that only ...

  “ But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty ”. Matthew‬ ‭13:23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ If the difference between hearers and doers of the words of God is limited to the seed (word), the sole responsibility of every believer will be reduced to finding the right assembly. Unfortunately, even in holy and righteous assemblies, there are lots of unfruitful believers and ready fields for wicked manipulation by the enemy of righteousness. And if Jesus could focus on this singular concern in His own assembly of seekers of sermons, believers in all of God’s assemblies should be more concerned about the imperative of good ground (or humble heart) for fruitfulness in life and ministry. As long as we are in this world, the heart of everyone is open to the good in God’s presence and the ugly in the society, social media, strange occurrences, etc. Without a deliberate and conscious ...

  “ At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. ” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:25‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Seekers of earthly fortune, fame, and favour know the preciousness of networking with the shakers in politics, privileges and position of authority. Even unbelievers and backsliders will spare nothing (sometimes, the most painfully precious) in sacrifice for the connection with the demands from these shakers. But in Christ’s consideration, the privileges with these shakers or the wise and prudent of this world are inconsequential. His own version of pleasant privileges are reserved for and revealed only to babes, in style, conduct and passion. Unfortunately, and like the later experience of John the Baptist, when babes have become exposed or enlightened by the realities in life, they are tempted to start considering trading the Source of living water for cisterns that canno...

  “ Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest .”” Matthew‬ ‭9:37-38‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ There is no doubt in every labourer’s concern about the harvest from the field of life and ministry. Most times, we struggle with varying degrees of confusion, especially when our harvest does not appear to align with the Lord’s harvest. Whereas, the perception of the Lord about the state of the harvest during His earthly ministry could be quite revealing to today’s disciples. Even after a series of apparent fruitfulness on the field, Christ was concerned about the need for compassion in labourers (rather than confusion about the state of the harvest). When the labourers’ life and ministry are solely motivated by their passion for the unconverted souls, the Lord of harvest will fully become the Lord of the labourers. Unfortunately, there are many labourers on the field whose lords ar...