Matthew 20:16
First Will Be Last
16"So the last will be first, and the first will be last."
It seems there is a natural tendency to want to be first...Men want to be first...Men want things, material things...To root for your team to win, to be number one...We want to have power, to have fame, to be looked up to, to have material wealth...The tendency for fame and fortune seems a part of many of our regular lives...When we have wealth, fame, and power we on earth think that these things are a blessing...
Jesus teaches us to have God the center part of our lives, to be servants of God...A slave is a servant...A slave does his master's will...A slave and servant in God's Kingdom will serve Him...The slave and servant will do God's will easier that the famous and fortunate...A servant does for others what needs to be done...
Jesus tells us the two greatest commandments are to love our neighbors and to love God...When struggles and life get us down and lay us low we feel out of touch...Believers will help others bring each other up...God is their for us and will comfort us, if not in this life, but the next...
God will take care of the mentally ill, those in famine and hunger, those in constant pain, the afflicted...God is caring...God is gracious...Jesus does not say that the first on earth will not make it to heaven...God is equally gracious of all...God will bring us up and lift us up, when we are down...God's ways are not man's ways...God will bless those who mourn and comfort them in heaven (Matthew 5:4)...