DCLM Daily Manna 2023: DCLM Daily Manna 14 April 2023: Deceitful Riches
Key Verse: “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.” – (Matthew 19:23).
TEXT: Matthew 19:23-30
23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?
26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
27 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?
28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
30 But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.
Read yesterday’s Daily Manna here
The American investor, Howard Robard Hughes Jr. was one of the richest men in the world at the time he died at 70 in 1976. With investments in the film industry, real estate, aviation, medicine and engineering among other fields, this US magnate outclassed many billionaires of the age. But he became a recluse who made his stupendous wealth a kingdom that pushed him, ironically, into mental and physical decline. He was said to have a “phobia about germs” while “his passion for secrecy became a mania”.
Howard Hughes tied his all to his riches: his expectations on career success, family, future, healing, joy and desire for the good life. His wealth was turned into a bunker that kept the kingdom of heaven away. He overruled the Lord’s injunction: “if riches increase, set not your heart upon them”. The Lord is not against prosperity for His children. But we must relegate riches in respect of seeking the greater joy and hope for heaven.
The ageless warning is that it is impossible for those who make riches their idol without repenting to make heaven. As they swim in the rivers of riches here on earth without a larger preoccupation with the things of God, they declare that they have already created their own heaven.
The decision to follow Christ and renounce the world and its misleading spirit is taken at the point of one’s surrender to the Lord. Approved by God, it becomes a consuming lifetime passion that shuns the false glitz, glamour and grandeur promised by mammon. It is a resolution cast in iron that will not bend or budge.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY: He who makes mammon his God cannot have heaven as eternal home.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Numbers 19-21
Thank you for studying today’s Daily Manna – Deceitful Riches- by Pastor W.F Kumuyi
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Daily Manna 14 April 2023
