Whatever your position in life. Whatever your individual circumstance. Take comfort in knowing this life is not what we are living for. Though we may suffer many transgressions big and small, peace cometh in the morning. We must wait upon the Lord. Keep our eyes toward heaven. Serve. Labor. Love. Give freely. Live bravely. Pray faithfully. What a might God we serve.
There is one who sees all. The one who hears our solemn cry. We are not meant to suffer needlessly. We are never ever alone. There is one who looks over us, stands watch at our door. HE builds bridges, holds back crippling storms. HE is all sovereign.
There awaits a crown for each of us. Those that live their life in service and servitude shall be first. Our status on earth carries its own toil. Have more? Then above all give more. Give, give, give of yourself until you can give no more. Awake! Stop hiding behind your worldly coins. Give with your heart, your time, your prayer, your good acts. Be first, not last, to act as Jesus would do.
Matthew 20:16 King James Version (KJV)16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
Jesus made the statement “many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first” in His response to the disciples’ asking what reward they would have for giving up everything to follow Him (Matthew 19:27-30;Mark 10:28-31). He reiterated this truth in Matthew 20:16at the end of the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. This statement is not, as many believe, a description of the reversal of earthly roles in heaven. There is no hierarchy in heaven wherein the poor and oppressed will rule over the rich and powerful when we get there. Nor will those believers who enjoy wealth and prestige on earth be somehow abased in heaven. Earthly rank will not automatically translate into heavenly rank.
When Jesus told the disciples they would be greatly rewarded in heaven for what they had given up on earth (Matthew 19:27-29), He was making a contrast with the rich young ruler, who was unwilling to give up much of anything for Christ’s sake (verses 16-22). The “last” in this world—the disciples in their poverty—would be “first” in the kingdom of heaven. Conversely, the “first” in this world—the self-sufficient rich—would be the last to find the kingdom.
Read more:http://www.gotquestions.org/first-last-last-first.html#ixzz3EpD46xdY
There is one who sees all. The one who hears our solemn cry. We are not meant to suffer needlessly. We are never ever alone. There is one who looks over us, stands watch at our door. HE builds bridges, holds back crippling storms. HE is all sovereign.
There awaits a crown for each of us. Those that live their life in service and servitude shall be first. Our status on earth carries its own toil. Have more? Then above all give more. Give, give, give of yourself until you can give no more. Awake! Stop hiding behind your worldly coins. Give with your heart, your time, your prayer, your good acts. Be first, not last, to act as Jesus would do.
Matthew 20:16 King James Version (KJV)16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
Jesus made the statement “many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first” in His response to the disciples’ asking what reward they would have for giving up everything to follow Him (Matthew 19:27-30;Mark 10:28-31). He reiterated this truth in Matthew 20:16at the end of the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. This statement is not, as many believe, a description of the reversal of earthly roles in heaven. There is no hierarchy in heaven wherein the poor and oppressed will rule over the rich and powerful when we get there. Nor will those believers who enjoy wealth and prestige on earth be somehow abased in heaven. Earthly rank will not automatically translate into heavenly rank.
When Jesus told the disciples they would be greatly rewarded in heaven for what they had given up on earth (Matthew 19:27-29), He was making a contrast with the rich young ruler, who was unwilling to give up much of anything for Christ’s sake (verses 16-22). The “last” in this world—the disciples in their poverty—would be “first” in the kingdom of heaven. Conversely, the “first” in this world—the self-sufficient rich—would be the last to find the kingdom.
Read more:http://www.gotquestions.org/first-last-last-first.html#ixzz3EpD46xdY
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