MARCH 1 The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

March 1 / Day 2

365 Prayers to JESUS 

Jesus, we seek to find Your Truth and to know the “Way” and we praise You that You did not just “tell” us how to live but You became flesh and “lived” a life on earth so that You could teach by “example”. Lord Jesus, as I search the scriptures I always end up searching my heart, for it is the desires of my heart that lead to my actions and it is in our hearts that Your truth speaks the loudest. Lord, my desire is to be more like You in everything I do, say, think, and live but Lord You know that I fall short “short of the glory of God” and yet You still love me — teach me Lord to stand tall in my shortcomings and love others with the love You showed the world by both Your life and Your death.

The Jesus Questions

Yesterday I was moved to start an “open forum” on trying to answer the "questions" that Jesus asked as He was “teaching”. It is under this premise that I have started a study on the questions that Jesus asked during His earthly ministry. The first Jesus Question (JQ#1) that I came across was Matthew 5:13 and it was posted yesterday on this page. Sharon Anderson accepted my request to comment and her reply is filled with great insights which I will try to share with everyone, I still feel the urging of the Holy Spirit to get others involved in this deeper study of Jesus because He is soon coming! JQ#1 was about us being the “the salt of the earth” and in His question was also a declarative statement, Jesus said “you are”, and not “you will become” or “you have been” but He states from His point of Infinite Truth that “we ARE” and that is where we need to start — what we think about ourselves is not near as important as what Jesus “knows” about us! Jesus said very clearly that “You are the salt of the earth…” therefore we must first think of ourselves as “salt” and then we must consider the JQ#1 “…but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?”. Sharon Anderson responded with some very good notes on the context (“context is king”) and that is where any study or discussion should start as I agreed completely with Sharon that we must study context to get to the truth. The context is Matthew 5:3-16 the “Beatitudes”. A In verses 3-11 Jesus uses the word “are” in each verse  3-11 and then again in verses 13 and 14 but in 3-11 Jesus says “Blessed are” and in 13 and 14 Jesus says “You are” . Sharon stated “I think it behooves us to examine our own lives and see if our character and conduct line up more closely with the description in Matthew 5:3-11 or with 2 Timothy 3:1-5.” I agree that these “Beatitudes” were given to us as a moral standard and that we should also recognize that Jesus states emphatically we ARE also “salt” and “light”. Jesus was also very clear that we must be careful not to lose our “flavor” nor hide our “light”!  The life of Jesus was the most useful life ever lived and was without a doubt the brightest Light. Jesus stated that the “reason” we should live our lives as He lived His is so the world will see our lives being lived for Christ and that “they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16).