Pigs and People

by Wayne Cordeiro on April 21, 2025

Happy Monday! April 21, 2025 — the day after Easter! What an amazing weekend we’ve just had. Over 100 lives were transformed as people received Jesus as their Lord and Savior for the very first time at New Hope West! But even after Easter, Jesus continues His work—especially when it comes to reprioritizing our hearts. Let’s take a look…

Today's Reading:
1 Samuel 24; Psalm 57,58; 1 Chronicles 8; Matthew 8

Scripture

“And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they begged Him to leave their region.” (Matthew 8:34)

Observation

Jesus had just delivered two demon-possessed men on the shores of the Gerasenes. The evil spirits were cast into a herd of pigs, which promptly rushed down a steep bank and drowned in the Sea of Galilee. The possessed men were finally free. Their lives were restored.

But when the townspeople heard what had happened, they didn’t rejoice. Instead, they begged Jesus to leave. Why? Because they were more concerned about pigs than people.

Application

This is a sobering picture of how quickly we can get our priorities out of order. In that town, pigs were more valuable than people. Profit mattered more than transformation.

Sound familiar?

In our modern world, we often see the same: when the economy is threatened, ethics go out the window. When comfort is at risk, compassion takes a backseat.

But when a society values money more than people, it begins to drown itself—just like those pigs.

Even in the church, we must be careful. It’s easy to focus on numbers, programs, and performances—all good things in themselves—but we often forget the people behind them.

Lost souls.
Hurting hearts.
Eternal destinies.

Jesus came to remind us: people matter most. Let us be the church that never forgets that.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, Thank You for constantly bringing me back to what truly matters. Help me to see people the way You do. Let me never trade a soul for a system, or a person for a program. Re-center my heart around Your priorities—again and again. Amen.

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About the Author

Wayne Cordeiro

Dr. Wayne Cordeiro is the founding pastor of the New Hope International Ministry beginning in 1984 in Hilo, Hawaii. In 1995, he relocated to Honolulu and pioneered New Hope Oahu. Within 10 years, NHO was listed among the ten most innovative churches in America. Outreach Magazine listed them as one of the “top five churches to learn from.” New Hope has seen over 110,000 first time decisions since its inception and has planted 153 churches on the West Coast and in Okinawa, Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, Myanmar and Australia.

Wayne is an author of over 14 books and speaks globally on ministry and leadership. He also designed the Life Journal and the SOAP method for daily devotions used by thousands of churches. He is also the general editor of the LifeConnect Study Bible. In 2017, he passed the leadership baton in Hawaii and relocated to Eugene, Oregon to be president of New Hope Christian College (formerly Eugene Bible College, his alma mater). New Hope Christian College highlights the development of both the message and the messenger. (For more information, go to Newhope.edu).

In 2020, he pioneered New Hope West which partners with New Hope Christian College. It has become a “lab church” for ministry and leadership development. Wayne’s life themes are emphasizing the Word of God, a daily devotion to Jesus, evangelism, church planting, leadership development, communication and redeeming the arts and technology for Christ.

Wayne and his wife, Anna have been married for over 49 years. They have three married children (Amy Hisaoka, Aaron Cordeiro, and Abigail Rivest) and nine grandchildren. His hobbies include music, reading, golf, pickleball, and riding his horse.