AUGUST 21 JQ#22-1 “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” (Matthew 20:15) The Jesus Questions

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

AUGUST 21   JQ#22-1  “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?”  (Matthew 20:15) 

365 Prayers to JESUS 

Jesus, Praise, Glory, and Honor to the Only Begotten Son of the Living God that Sacrificed Himself willingly on a cruel cross, who Died on my behalf, was buried but was Resurrected by our heavenly Father on the Third Day and now sits at the right hand of God making intercession for all that believe that Jesus came to save our souls from an eternal burning hell and will call on His Name for Salvation and Forgiveness of our sins. Lord Jesus, there has never been nor is there any reason or need for another like You, for Your life, death, and Sacrifice was Perfect and Sufficient. Jesus I acknowledge on a daily basis my unworthiness and surrender my soul to You,  and pray as humbly as I can to be showered with Your Mercy and Grace, lead me in paths of righteousness for Your Name’s sake.       AMEN

The Jesus Questions

AUGUST 21   JQ#22-1  “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?”  (Matthew 20:15)    Jesus has just spent a large amount of effort in teaching His disciples about sin and now Jesus moves on to addressing more details about our daily lives as Matthew  writes “Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings [on sin], that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordon.” (Matthew 19:1) As we move from one area in our lives to another, we usually encounter new circumstances and when we do, we will find Jesus there and Jesus will already have a lesson planned for us to cover every circumstance we will encounter. Matthew documents that “…great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.” (Matthew 19:20) but everywhere Jesus performed miracles there was opposition to His generosity of His Spirit to those who followed Him and it always came from the “authority” figures who seek to have “control” over the populace. Matthew writes: “The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him…” (Matthew 19:3a) and so once again as Jesus does the work of God and heals the multitudes He comes under attack from the Pharisees who were the “traditionalists” of their time in Jewish history but Jesus repeatedly turned their attacks on His doing the work of God to exposing the problem with their “traditions” based on their wrong interpretation on God’s Laws. In this particular case, in this passage in Matthew, this group of Pharisees asked Jesus “…saying to Him, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?’” (Matthew 19:3b) Jesus took the question the Pharisees used to try and trick Jesus and used their question to actually expose a problem with both the common Jewish practices as well as the Pharisee’s teaching of “traditional” Jewish practices which the Pharisees followed even at the expense of God’s original intent. Earlier in Matthew, another group of Pharisees had attacked Jesus regarding picking grain to eat on the Sabbath and Jesus had responded by asking them: “Why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matthew 15:3) and then Jesus called the Pharisees “hypocrites” and He quoted Isaiah “But their heart is far from Me, and in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” (Isaiah 29:13/Matthew 15:3-9)  Jesus therefore has used every attack from the “traditionalists” to expose a problem with the way we “sin” against God by turning our hearts from God and follow the doctrines of “men” — following the “doctrines of men” instead of “following God” is a problem with every generation, and the generations now living in the year 2016 is no exception and stand in need to learn the lesson that Jesus is about to teach in this circumstance. The fact that Jesus could teach a lesson to correct a problem exposed by Isaiah 800 years before Jesus was born makes one realize that Jesus must be God for only God could teach a lesson that could be applied to every generation, every creed, nation, and race — and that can only be explained by the fact that God and His Truth is Unchanging and Eternal — therefore if something is Unchanging and Eternal it must be of God! If you read the answer Jesus gave the Pharisees as recorded in Matthew 19:4-12 and your heart is  “hardened” by His answer then it is safe to assume that you are part of the problem and need the teachings of Jesus to free you from the slavery of being in bondage to the “commandments of men”!  Don’t you “think” that it would be better to “please God” who made the commandments than to “please men” that have manipulated God’s commandments so that the populace will succumb to the power of “men” and ignore “God”?!?!?!? Or do you believe that we as a society should be ruled by a court of nine judges that call themselves the “Supreme Court” or should everyone be under the rule of Law established by the True Supreme Judge, God Almighty Himself?!?!?