Heralds Digest

  ” Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, For You are my strength. Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. “ ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭31‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ One funny reality and the burden of life is the growth of human strength with advancement in position, prosperity, and property or prospects. And our abilities to recognize the different strata of human strength create the necessary culture of respect, loyalty, and decorum in the constituted system, institution, and authority. Invariably, every sane person is wary of the superiority of the system strength, compared to personal strength, no matter the perceived strata. For example, the psalmist could even realize his imprisonment and helplessness under the system’s strength, even though anyone would be carried away by his perceived immunity as the king of Israel. Therefore, king David unveiled the superiority of the Saviour’s strength over the system’s strength. Unfortunately, many bel...

  ” You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever .“ ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭30‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ A life contaminated by sin, unrighteousness, and wickedness is leprous; and it is reserved for mourning, misery, and the manipulation of the devil. Before the psalmist testified of the Lord that ‘You have turned for me my mourning into dancing ’, he’d made fruitless efforts at getting relief from leprosy. Just as the law of leprosy in the Old Testament, the person, the house, clothing, and all embodiments of a leprous lifestyle must be brought to the priest for examination before a possible cleansing can be initiated. Likewise, anyone who accepts the invitation to come to the High Priest, Jesus Christ, with his leprous lifestyle stands the chance to find rest and restoration. Jesus is still turning all leprous lifestyles ...

  ”And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”“ ‭‭Mark‬ ‭12‬:‭30‬-‭31‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Just as the freedom of the physical heart is exercised through the eating of a heart-healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight, managing the blood pressure, controlling the total cholesterol, and keeping the blood sugar healthy, the spiritual heart is healthy when free of hatred, envy, and wickedness. Simply put, love is the vital ingredient of a healthy heart. To love the Lord with all the heart is to give like the Lord gave. A healthy heart, like God’s agape love, is not driven by any acknowledgment of the need of the giver. Otherwise, the heart is not healthy. Funnily but fundamentally, when one of the scribes that asked Jesus Christ the question responded with ...

  ” For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy .“ ‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭11‬:‭44‬-‭45‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Nations are not just getting started with the challenges of systemic corruption culture. The religious leaders in the days of Christ’s earthly ministry demonstrated their creepy consecration in the several interactions with the Saviour. In one of Christ’s discerning responses, He said “ Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s ” (‭‭Mark‬ ‭12‬:‭17‬). Unfortunately, many so-called believers today would prefer to marvel at the deceitfulness of the world’s creepy consecration; rather than marvel at the dexterity of Christ's consecration. And just as God established the foundation of Christ c...

  ” And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke, saying: ‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified.’ ” So Aaron held his peace .“ ‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭10‬:‭3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ While the scripture is littered with numerous examples of acceptable and strange offerings, the basis of an obedient offering stands out for believers with the example of Abihu and Nadab’s strange offerings. Instead of fire coming down from heaven to consume the offerings, it came down to devour the disobedient priests - Abihu and Nadab. Likewise, life’s daily engagements, devotion, and activities demand the offering of our time, talents and treasures for diverse motives. And when surrounded by many admirers, dependents, and associates with divergent needs and conflicts of interest, it is understandable to excuse the pressure to sometimes offer inconsistent sacrifices, depending on whose interests are best being given priority. Abihu and Nadab apparently of...

  ” Because they do not regard the works of the Lord, Nor the operation of His hands, He shall destroy them And not build them up .“ Psalms‬ ‭28‬:‭5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ When, very close to his death in 1991,  Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the rock group Queen, sang the question: ‘Does anybody know what we are living for?’ , he illustrated a perfect example of a lone loser. He admitted, ‘You can have everything in the world and still be the loneliest man, and that is the most bitter type of loneliness ’. Being created in the image of God, man is merely a dead corpse without a loving, ongoing relationship with God. Unfortunately, many religious people do claim a form of godliness, but they do not regard the works of the Lord, nor the operation of His hands. We cannot be obsessed with just our own works, ways, and wisdom about social, family, and career relationships without the inspiration from God and His words; and then cry foul when crashing on the lane to be decorated as a lone l...

  ” So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road .“ Mark‬ ‭10‬:‭51‬-‭52‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Our text today broadly categorized the different types of human desires into three, including deceitful, divisive, and delightful desires. Unlike the way Christ clearly revealed God’s redemption plan to His disciples (on how He was heading for the trail of suffering and death on the Cross of Calvary), many of today’s desires can only accommodate deceits, and everything, mostly in opposition to God’s will, as long as they are perceived as not in agreement with the convenient yardstick of the flesh. The divisive type of desires was adopted by James and John whose passion for promotion was not mindful of the consequent division that this selfish desire will generate among the d...