MARCH 12 The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS/The Jesus Questions --- Daily Devotional

March 12 / Day 13

365 Prayers to JESUS

Jesus, Lord there is nothing I can do to merit Your favor but You place within our grasp the very “Power” that brings Eternal Life with Perfect Fellowship with the Father. That “Power” is contained within our Free Will which you have so graciously bestowed on all that call upon the Name of the Lord, even our LORD JESUS. Help me Lord to always be mindful that with each and every choice I make in my daily life has an effect on my Eternity. Lord, too often do I overlook the “divine responsibility” and the magnitude of the importance that exercising my Free Will automatically carries with it! Lord, influence me today to make those good choices for all my tomorrows.

The Jesus Questions

JQ#3 - Today I will introduce the next Jesus Question found in Matthew Chapter 6. I have been studying the context for several days and have settled on the “context” being Matthew 6:25-34. Jesus uses “questions” as a teaching tool by asking questions that He fully knows the answer to but He also fully knows that for us to get on the same page with Him that we must get actively involved in the thought process. In this Matthew 6:25-34 section Jesus asks 8 separate questions but all of them deals with “worry”. Since Jesus uses questions as teaching tools,  if He asks effectively the same question 8 separate times in quick succession then He must be teaching on an important subject. Yesterday I asked of JQ#2 “why tax collectors?” and answered the question with the obvious that “taxes and tax collectors” are a universal reference that everyone can relate to, and in JQ#3 Jesus addresses a topic that is also universal and affects everyone I know — “Worry”. Again, as is the teaching style of Jesus, He introduces the topic with an absolute truth and then gets us to “think” about the truth Jesus had just spoken. This JQ#3 section starts out with one such truth when Jesus says: “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; not about your  body, what you will put on…” (Matthew 6:25a) and then to emphasize His point Jesus asks a simple series of questions that reinforce the lesson He is trying to teach. This teaching method can be compared to a college professor stating the object of the lesson and then turning immediately around and gives a test question like “What did I just say?” So Jesus states the “truth” that we should “not worry about our life” and lists some everyday choices we make like what to eat and drink and what to wear and then He makes us stop and consider a question with an obvious answer just to make His point. Jesus says not to “worry” and then He asks the deep question that will lead us to a “divine truth” when He ends the statement with His main question in this section: “…is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25b) This being question at the end of verse Matthew 6:25 is the main question in this section of Matthew 6:25-34 therefore it needs to be “chewed on” for a little while — so tomorrow I hope to see some comments on this very important and basic question about yourself that deals with the important topic of “what do we accomplish with worry?”