FEBRUARY 18 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#05-01 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#5 “Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” (Matthew 7:8)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

FEBRUARY 18  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#05-01 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<   JQ#5  “Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” (Matthew 7:8)

049 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, Praise You Lord for Your Great Love. Lord, as we seek to be more like You in every thing we do or try to accomplish with our lives that have been “crucified with Christ”, may all our actions reflect the Love for mankind by which You both lived and died, and then the Glory by which You were risen from the grave! Lord, please let us be aware that death is nothing but a gateway to eternity because You Lord defeated both death and the grave, and Your Victory came through Love and Obedience, which is my prayer today, that I may Love as You loved and be Obedient to the Father’s Will as You were Obedient, that the Father’s Mercy and Grace will flow freely in my life!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

FEBRUARY 18  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#05-01 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<   JQ#5  “Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” (Matthew 7:8) Jesus warned us at the end of His Lesson on JQ#4 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine…” (Matthew 7:6) as He concluded His Lesson on “judging others”. I mentioned that this verse always makes me uncomfortable — I also mentioned that this “do not judge” Lesson Jesus taught has been “hijacked” by those seeking political power to advance their personal agenda, a humanistic agenda that has “re-defined” certain commandments of God by re-defining the meaning of words associated with those commandments and one of those words was “tolerance”. I grew up understanding the meaning of “tolerance” as adults “putting up” with some unacceptable childish behavior publicly until it could be “corrected” privately so that the unacceptable behavior would not be repeated in public again! That was how the “community” viewed “tolerance” and it was based on a common Moral Standard that was taken from God’s Holy Word and through the common Moral Standard there was “unity” in the community. No one had to “judge” others because they clearly understood behaviors that were “Right” and behaviors that were “Wrong” because those behaviors were already established by the common Moral Standard given to us by a Holy Eternal God who does not change, nor will He ever change therefore the “Right” and “Wrong” behaviors will eternally be “Right or Wrong”!  Only by all men living under the same Eternal Moral Standard given to society for the “Good” or “Right Thing” for society will our society truly “not judge others” by any standard other than that Eternal Moral Standard given by God Himself and has already proven itself to be beneficial to society when incorporated into our culture. Our legal system no longer recognizes the Holy God as the Moral Standard Giver therefore the legal system defines through legislation what is “best” for society, not based on a Holy Eternal God but by mortal men seeking to be like God and these self seekers establishes through government an un-holy legal system of doctrines of men that redefine terms like “tolerance” and legislates (from the bench) a woman’s “right” to take the life of an unborn child. The problem Is that these doctrines are determined by the “ruling” political party which is in a continual change of flux as each party seeks to remain in power! “Abortion” used to be considered to be illegal because it involved taking the “life” of an “human fetus” that had not reached the stage of development where it could survive outside the womb — but today’s definition of the term  “fetus” has be changed to the “products of conception” because it is easier to discard “products” than it is to discard a “human fetus” but regardless of the definition of terms associated with “abortion”, it is still a “human mother” that with the contribution of a “human father” has conceived a “human fetus” in her womb and if God’s “miracle” of life is left unaltered the “human fetus” which has its “God-given life” in it, the “human fetus” will continue its journey as an individual “human being” to the point where it will exit the womb. This “human fetus” does not become a “human baby” at the point of birth, it is “human” before it is born!!! In fact, the moment that the sperm fertilizes the egg and God has blessed that union with “life” it is “human”. Consider that when the “human baby” is born, if it is left on its own, it will die without that help of other “humans” until it reaches an age that it can provide for itself, which is several years old — so if “abortion” is “OK/Legal” because the “human mother” that is providing protection and assistance to the “human fetus” in her “human womb” decides she is inconvenienced by the pregnancy, then why can’t the court declare it “OK/Legal” for  “human adults” who can take care of themselves decide it is inconvenient for society to take care of “human children” who can’t take care of themselves? If it is legal for the “human mother” to determine that the “human child” in her “human womb” is unwanted the why shouldn’t it be “legal” for her to decide the same once the “human fetus” has exited the womb but is still not wanted?!?!? That is what happens when a society lets men seeking power define what is “legal” without using God’s Holy Moral Standard to make their decisions. Abortion is only accepted today because God and His Holy Moral Standards have been removed from the decision making process in our courts and legal systems and our ideal of “Right” and “Wrong” are determined not by a Holy Eternal Unchanging God but by the vacillating “opinion” of 4 or 5 people that have been appointed by a political administration with the “good” of the political party in mind — in other words the Holy Moral Standard has been “thrown to the dogs” and the Holy Sanctity of Life is a “pearl of great worth” that has been consumed by swine and the results for our society is a new definition of a “woman’s right” to the life of her unborn child. Jesus moves us straight into the solution by His next statement leading up to His next Question by introducing some “success” principals: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7) Jesus made a simple plain statement of “Spiritual Truth” and He immediately adds: “For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:8) This is clearly an inclusive statement Jesus makes: “For everyone…”. Please note that Jesus is not telling us to take our requests to the Supreme Court of the United States but Jesus is telling us to refer our case to The Supreme Judge of the Universe — God in Heaven!!! The whole intent of the Gospel is that all will be included into the kingdom. But, in order to be “included” we must learn the simple rules which God has chosen and God always makes it perfectly clear that if we perform the actions God asks of us, we will get the predetermined results that He has established in His Eternal Moral Law. This is called the Law of Choice and Consequence established by the Creator and all laws apply to everyone, just like we all experience “gravity” and “…the rain falls on the just and the unjust…”. We all can enjoy and depend on the sun coming up each morning, all because God has said that is the way He has determined that it will be. God in His Mercy has been Gracious in letting us know that He has given us Freewill in our lives and we are free to make our own “choices” but we are not free to determine the “consequence” of our actions because the result of our choices has already been determined by God so that “everyone” will have the confidence that God has determined “consequences” for the “True Good” of mankind and we should use His Consistency of results to make an “informed decision” based upon on “constant” and “irrevocable consequence”. The Law of Choice and Consequence is simple and applies to “everyone” and God makes it perfectly clear that we are free to “chose” our actions but He reserves the right to dictate the “consequence” of the action we chose to perform. This section is a simple set of “Actions=Results” as we read “Seek=Find, Ask=Given, & Knock=Open”. God shows His Goodness by telling us the results of our choice and then He gives us some “Blessed Assurance” when He asks JQ#5: “Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” (Matthew 7:9)  Apply the Law of Choice and Consequence to this section in Matthew 7:7-14 and you’ll easily answer the LORD’s Teaching Questions. If God is the “Giver of Life” and has established the Laws governing the entire universe, should we not listen to how the Holy God who Jesus calls “our heavenly Father” defines such terms as “Life”, “Death”, “Abortion” and “Tolerance”?!?!?!?