JULY 10 JQ#19-6 “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26) The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JULY 10   JQ#19-6  “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26) 

365 Prayers to JESUS 

Jesus, Lord as I start another day seeking to know God and You “deeper still”, I pray that the Holy Spirit will open my “spiritual eyes” that I may know that Your efforts to give me “understanding” is so that I will become “one” with the Holy Trinity and that I will not only know You better but I will know better who I am. Lord Jesus, it is a comfort to know that You are the Good Shepherd and You came to earth to lead “lost sheep” in the paths of righteousness, that You died on the cross as the Lamb of God, the Perfect Sacrifice for sinners like me — You have resolved the “sin problem”, so let me fully accept Your Grace and Share Your Unconditional Love with others.        AMEN

The Jesus Questions

JULY 10   JQ#19-6  “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)  Jesus not only “taught” His disciples by “words”, His most powerful lessons were lessons that the disciples saw Him “living out” before Him and then Jesus would sit down with them and explain to them the “purpose” of His actions that they had just seen Jesus doing as He went about His day-to-day living. Jesus always approached every circumstance from the point of view that He had a “purpose” to fulfill — Jesus was on a “mission” to “do the Father’s will” and to “accomplish” what Jesus knew full well that He was sent from the Father to accomplish and Jesus was to accomplish those tasks in a manner pleasing to the Father. Jesus was always aware that everything He did was to “honor” the Father and that His actions were to be done “in the name of the Father” and for sake the kingdom (of God).  Jesus lived every moment to fulfill His purpose therefore everything He did and say was teaching about the kingdom and bringing His disciples into a closer relationship with both Himself and the Father. Now Jesus has put forth JQ#18 in which He Teaches that it is important that we personally know the Truth about “who” Jesus is and then He immediately asks us to consider “who” we are in relation to the Truth of God and the upcoming “Judgement”. Our “guilt or innocence” will be solely determined by how well we answer JQ#18 & 19 for God knows our inward thoughts and He will determine if we have accepted Jesus as the Son of God whom the Father sent to rectify the sin problem and God will know if we have truly recognized our “lostness” and acknowledged that the only correct answer to give God is that we are a sinner and Jesus is “the (only) way, the (only) truth, and the (only) life”. (John 14:6) Our best “hope” in this life is to study Jesus and to learn to “live” the way He lived and to make His purpose our purpose and to simply believe God’s declaration that Jesus is God’s Beloved Son and then to take God’s advice to “Listen to Him.” The only way to know who we are is to know who Jesus is for in the history of the world, no other person or god has done so much to teach us the Truth about who we really are in our day-to-day lives and no other person or god has done everything required of the One True God so that we can rise above our day-to-day existence and have “fellowship” with the Living God. Jesus has asked us in JQ#19 now to consider “profit”, “gain”, and our own unique “soul” — then Jesus specifically asks us to consider what we might “exchange” for our unique “soul”? We really should reflect on “why” should we consider that we will be required to “exchange” our souls? Also, when we consider the “exchange” we must consider “who” requires the “exchange” (who is making the “rule”) and what will we use for the “exchange” that is considered of any “value” when the “Exchange” is required? This is a dilemma considering that God has declared that “gaining the whole world” is not of enough value to keep us from “losing [our] own soul”!!! The “whole world” pretty much covers everything “physical” so the logical place to start looking at this point is in the “spiritual” arena and to listen to the “Spirit of God” who is trying to secure our eternal salvation? Don’t you think that if we need to consider the “spirit” as being “valuable enough” to God that He would consider an “exchange for [our] soul” that we might want to listen to the God who has always been declared as “God is Spirit”?? (John 4:24)