MARCH 4 The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

March 4 / Day 5

365 Prayers to JESUS 

Jesus, Lord, Master, Lover of my soul, Giver of Life, start my day with Your Mercy, Your Grace and Your Love and then move me to share the overflow of Your Goodness with all those that I come into contact with today. Lord, I desire in the depths of my heart that when others see me that they do not see the old sinner I was but the forgiven sinner that I am and that they see the Source of my Salvation shining forth through my former darkness to illuminate the Truth that is Jesus Christ.

The Jesus Questions

JQ#1 Matthew 5:13 (Continued) This open forum on “The Jesus Questions” challenge was to consider the questions Jesus asked and study them until our understanding led us to an answer. JQ#1 is Matthew 5:13 where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount and listed in verses 1-12 what has become known as the Beatitudes. Immediately in verse 13 Jesus makes a statement and concludes it with JQ#1: “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” There was one very exceptional comment from Sharon McLean Anderson that I feel everyone should read before answering JQ#1. Sharon replied with an insight on “salt” after giving beautiful insight (to be posted tomorrow) on the Beatitudes. On “salt” Sharon stated: “Salt in Biblical times had varying degrees of purity… Inferior salt in those days was used to keep footpaths free of vegetation so people could walk on them.” If one reads what Jesus says about useless salt in the same verse, Sharon’s comment gives us a modern understanding of what Jesus was saying to us in verse 13 about useless salt: “It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” It was at this point of insight that I felt impressed by the Holy Spirit that it was Jesus that gave salt its flavor and it is Jesus that gives Christians our flavor. Our “Christian” purpose in this world is to season this tasteless world with the flavor of Jesus which is Mercy, Grace, Forgiveness and Love and if we lose our flavor then we become useless Christians and will be “trampled underfoot by men” and that is what I see happening today with the Church. We lose our flavor each time we deviate from the Truth of Jesus Christ and try to season the world with “compromise” instead of “conviction”. A Christian without  the conviction of Jesus is salt that has lost its flavor and usefulness for the Kingdom of God. A Christian without Jesus is a lamp under a basket. The question then is “How do we prevent losing our flavor?” As always, God provides. In this case He had told us how to keep our flavor in verses 5:1-12 in the Beatitudes. I encourage you to read them again as a type of map to keeping yourself committed to following Jesus. Consider that God has established His laws governing the universe. God always provides an understanding of the Law, then He gives us FREEWILL and He also provides a Consequence for each Law so that we can make an informed decision. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17 that He came to “fulfill” the “Law of the Prophets” so consider the Beatitudes as Laws and following them results in the “Consequence” as stated in the “Blessed are” statements. Not following the Law results in the penalties listed in 13. Be Light and keep your Flavor.