FEBRUARY 04 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#02-07 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#2 “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

FEBRUARY 04  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#02-07 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<   JQ#2  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

035 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, as I come before today I come seeking nothing but to be in Your Presence which You so Graciously shower onto us when we bow before You. Lord I am reminded of reading an Oswald Chamber quote some years ago that I did not understand until this time today when I awoke and felt the peace of knowing You were with me when I laid down in my bed and You are right here waiting for me to awake and open Your Word! The Oswald quote said something like “When we stop seeking God for His blessings, then we can start seeking God for Himself!” and today I know deep in my soul that Your Presence is the Greatest Blessing that can be bestowed on mankind  and is what makes the Hope of Heaven so Significant! Forgive me, a sinner, and I plead daily for Your Mercy and Grace!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

FEBRUARY 04  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#02-07 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<   JQ#2  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47) Jesus asked the JQ#2 Question directly after JQ#1 to help focus us on the Truth of God that God has intended from the very beginning to include man in His Master Plan as demonstrated by God’s own Actions towards His New Creation — “The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden…Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.” (Genesis 2:8-15) Jesus reminded us with JQ#1 that God’s Purpose for mankind was for man to be “salt” and “light” and in order for “salt” and “light” to perform their purpose that they must be used to benefit others. “Salt” must be consumed by others because unless it is “consumed” it will not impart its flavor and Jesus made the point that if it is not used to benefit others that “salt” will lose its flavor and will be “good for nothing” which is bad enough but Jesus added that once tasteless salt is thrown out and then it will be “trampled underfoot by men.” (Matthew 5:13) To continue His Point about having the responsibility to use our God given natural abilities to be beneficial to others, Jesus then adds that if we “light a lamp and put it under a basket” that the light will not benefit anyone but if our light is put “on a lampstand” that  the light “gives light to all who are in the house.” (Matthew 5:14-15) Jesus makes it clear that mankind is to use our talents to benefit others as our personal responsibility to the One that Created mankind as Jesus instructs us: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16) Therefore JQ#1 was to bring our attention to giving of ourselves to help others and Jesus then follows that Lesson with JQ#2 which continues the focus not only on helping others but we are to imitate God’s “Love” for us by loving others equally undeserving as ourselves and Jesus then sets the Standard for our “conduct” with this command: “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) So we are to let our light shine on others as God has shone His Light on us and we are to “Love” others as graciously as God has Bestowed His “Love” on us — and in doing these things we will become more like the PERFECTION that GOD IS!!!! Jesus gets our attention and then He teaches some of the most Profound Details on our journey to be like God as we continue studying His Lessons contained in Matthew 6:1-24 on how we are to treat others and glorify God as we attempt to “be perfect”!!!

FEBRUARY 03 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#02-06 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#2 “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

FEBRUARY 03  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#02-06 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<   JQ#2  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

034 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, Praise you Lord for Your Lovingkindness and for Your Daily Guidance in all things we do. Lord Jesus, I continue to pray for the family, not just mine but for all families that they will grow strong in Your Grace and become the cornerstone for our society. O Lord, I know that 12 years ago when I started praying for my family that I never imagined what Blessings You would rain down on our entire family but then, that is because “[Your] ways are not [our] ways” (Isaiah 55:8). Jesus, forgive us where we daily fail You and forgive us our trespasses against Your Commandments, especially when we do not “Love God with all [our] hearts [and] love our neighbors as [ourselves].”  (Luke 10:27)     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

FEBRUARY 03  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#02-06 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<   JQ#2  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47) Jesus makes it clear what is on God’s mind in this Matthew 5:43-48 passage which contains the second of “The Jesus Questions” for it leaves little doubt in our minds that God is teaching us about His “Love”. Jesus states “you have heard…’Love your neighbor and hate your enemy’…” (Matthew 5:43) but Jesus immediately teaches, “But I say… love your enemies” and then Jesus replaces “hate” with “…bless those who curse you…” then adds “…pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44) If that wasn’t obvious enough that Jesus wants us to “Love” others as He “Loves” us, Jesus adds “why”  we should “Love others” as He “Loves” us: “that you may be sons [and daughters] of your Father in heaven…” (Matthew 5:45) While Jesus has our attention, He then asks common sense Questions from a Divine Viewpoint for our reasonable consideration: JQ#2a “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?” (Matthew 5 46a) The answer is implied that if we don’t “Love” as commanded from heaven then there is no “reward” awaiting us in heaven. JQ#2b “Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” (Matthew 5:46b) This Question implies that if we do not act any better than “tax collectors” (the tax collectors were at the time of Jesus definitely pagan and serving the Emperor of Rome) who serve men rather than God then we will receive no “reward”. I asked the question “why tax collectors?” and my answer is that in God’s great wisdom that He had written in His Word a reference that any one from any generation could relate to and those words are “taxes and tax collectors” which definitely are a universal reference point - this gives extra weight to the phrase “…such as is common to man…” (1 Corinthians 10:13)  . JQ#2c “And if you greet your  brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:47a) and JQ#2d “Do not even the tax collectors do so?” (Matthew 5:47b) which are essentially the same Questions aimed at teaching the same lesson to we should “Love others” and that we are to separate ourselves from the world by doing “more” for others than ourselves which demonstrates not our character but God’s Character and demonstrates His Power to change our daily lives into Glory for Himself while making us and the world a better place and in the process we add so much “more” good to society! Jesus concludes the Lesson on why we should “Love” with another command that is really, really hard to live up to but we must try because Jesus commanded it and I am confident that with each effort at being like God that we expend, that we will grow “spiritually” and learn with each effort what the Father is trying to teach to us as we journey “under the sun”! Jesus leaves the we should “Love” Lesson by commanding followers: “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48).  Agreed, we will never be perfect in the flesh but the least we can do is give our “Utmost for His Highest” as did the great Christian writer Oswald Chambers and the key to heavenly success is to “Love others” as closely as we can  as to how God demonstrates that He “Loves” us — even though we are natural born sinners!  Keep in mind those who sat under the Teaching of Jesus learned this personal Lesson on “Love” from Jesus: “But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, ‘With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.’” (Matthew 19:26)  A good way to learn to be “perfect” is to learn from The Perfect One, JESUS!!!

FEBRUARY 02 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#02-05 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#2 “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

FEBRUARY 02  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#02-05 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<   JQ#2  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

033 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, Glory and Honor to the King of kings and Lord of lords. You are the Creator and man is but dust under Your Holy Feet. Yet You have made us heirs to the kingdom as we accept Your Invitation to join the Father and we become sons and daughters in the Family of God — to God be the Glory Forever! Jesus, You know my heart, search it and know my desire to have You draw our entire family to You. I know full well that only You can accomplish Salvation! Lord keep my heart burdened for the family!”     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

FEBRUARY 02  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#02-05 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<   JQ#2  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47) Jesus is teaching us to be concerned about the needs of others and the greatest need everyone has is “Love” — The above prayer was written 16 years ago as I was greatly burdened for my oldest son Robbie who had started down his own path in the world and was heading into darkness. He had no job, no future, and no ambition, only raw talent without purpose which is more dangerous and destructive than it is advantageous. This study in the JESUS Questions has already taught me many new things but most importantly it has highlighted and clarified in my mind some of the lessons that I know now that God had intended for me when I started the “365 Prayers for Jesus” over 16 years ago. I did not know what the outcome would be when I committed to starting my day by writing a prayer to Jesus and praying for the family every day for an entire year which I accomplished first in 2004. I mention this during our study of “The JESUS Questions” because I did not know what I would learn or accomplish when I started the “365 Prayers for Jesus” but there has been so much fruit from the 2004 year of starting my day by writing the Name “JESUS” that it is still impacting my life 12 years later and I am sure that there are new lessons and new blessings in answering “The JESUS Questions”! Today, February 2, 2017 the prayer above is a prayer that I wrote in 2004 that was especially meaningful to me in 2016 because of the new “The JESUS Questions” project and the impact that it is having in my family.  It is not a random coincidence that I would read a prayer written 12 years ago that has so much relevance to my working on JQ#2. Yesterday I wrote that the context around JQ#2 was all focused on understanding the “Love of God” and how important “Love” is to God and then consider answering JQ#2 which is 4 questions asking effectively one question.  God really wants us to stop and think about our answer so He asks the same question 4 different ways, which immediately reminds me of the story when Jesus appeared to Peter after the Resurrection and asked Peter three repetitive questions in John 21:15-17. The 3 questions asked Peter can be translated as “Do you love Me?” asked from three different words used for “Love” with each one carrying successively more weight on the commitment to “Love God!”. My prayer in 2004 was when I was first learning how to be a good follower and God had me looking down the path of “Love”. In this 2004 prayer I prayed with the love of the best father I could be for my son Robbie at that point in my “Spiritual” journey and my heart was turned also to praying that our family would be healed. It is 12 years later and I have prayed every day for our family and God has healed our family and brought us all back together and since January of 2005 we have had a “Family Night” EVERY TUESDAY NIGHT — God is Good! Tomorrow I will try to put an answer to JQ#2 which is effectively asking each of us to consider where and how are we directing our “Love”? God is always teaching  us about “Love”, and in God’s Heart “LOVE” is ALWAYS about GIVING. Love is not “Love” if it is not given away! Stop and think where you would be today if at some point in life instead of feeling hurt you had chosen to “Love” the one hurting you instead of being the victim and having your own feelings hurt! Selfishness about “Love” will you let your personal hurt drive you away causing a separation in the relationship but if you give “Love” to your attacker you will find healing of relationships instead of hurt. Hold that thought as you read JQ#2 - Matthew 5:46-47.

FEBRUARY 01 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#02-04 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#2 “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

FEBRUARY 01  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#02-04 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<   JQ#2  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

032 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, oh how sweet the Name, oh how precious is the privilege to call on the Name Jesus and to know that You hear. Lord, to come to You with all that we have and to be able to drop it into the very Blood of Sacrifice that You shed for me on Calvary! Oh what joy and the peace of being able to leave them with You! Jesus, I will continually praise Your Name even in all circumstances for Your Love and Mercy never changes and I am now able to catch a glimpse of how great is Romans 8:28, for the more I love You, the more I can praise You and even our worldly pains can bring us Your Peace. Forgive me my sins, all my sins, that I may serve and love you better.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

FEBRUARY 01  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#02-04 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<   JQ#2  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47) Jesus tells us in JQ#1 how important it is that we consider others before our selfish worldly desires and then in JQ#2 He is teaching us that the greatest way to imitate God is to “Love others as God has loved us!” So let us look at this passage in Matthew 5:43-48 and answer the Question(s) Jesus asked about “LOVE” in Matthew 5:46-47. There are 4 separate questions asked successively that ask the same thing and because all 4 questions ask the same question they are obviously making a single point; let’s examine the Question(s) and then seek to answer them relative to “context”. JQ#2A & B  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors of the same?” (Matthew 5:46)  JQ#2C &D “And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?” (Matthew 5:46) The first thing that jumped out at me was the theme of “LOVE” and “doing for others” that is obvious in this passage. In Matthew 5:43 Jesus repeated a popular teaching when He makes the statement: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’” (Matthew 5:43) in which Jesus addresses both “love” and “hate”. He concludes His Teachings in this last section at the end of a great teaching chapter by Teaching about the importance of “LOVE” and included in His “LOVE” Lesson is a very Personal Lesson: “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44) Jesus is trying to convey to us by adding this section on “LOVE”  how we should view God, improve ourselves, and develop a proper perspective on how to treat our “brethren”. It is important in our seeking to understand God that we understand the importance that God Himself places on “LOVE”. We need go no further than John 3:16, and there is a reason that almost everyone can quote John 3:16 which starts: “For God so loved…” and it states the extent of His “LOVE” for “the world” (the context of this verse establishes the world as mankind and His original physical creation) His “LOVE” was demonstrated by His willingness to give “His only begotten Son” so that fallen man could be redeemed and inherit “eternal life”. When we consider that God’s motivation for our Salvation was driven by “LOVE” then we do get a glimpse of how important and what a big, big part that “LOVE” plays in God’s Plan! One could conclude that “LOVE” is the key to an “everlasting life”! One should read the book of John to get a true appreciation of the importance of “LOVE” in every thing God does for us and in everything He asks us to do for others. Study again these questions in Matthew 5:46-47 in the context of God’s “LOVE” and the importance that God places on us to “love one another”! Why do you think that God chose “tax collectors” to drive His point home to us?

JANUARY 31 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#02-03 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#2 “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JANUARY  31  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#02-03 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<   JQ#2  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

031 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, there is a “Peace” as I start my morning and write the Name “JESUS”! Lord I thank You for asking me two simple questions when I started my Journey to You — (1) “What is TRUTH?” and “Who do you say I am?”. Just two simple questions that when I truly answer them I know that God’s WORD is TRUTH and that YOU ARE THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD!, these “honest” answers have been a Guiding Light {{Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. (Psalm 119:105)}} and a Shelter in the Time of Storm. Lord, I do believe that You are the Son of God, the Savior, the Christ and I have supreme confidence that the Power that has been given by the Father to the Son is the same Power that surrounds even the spoken Name of Jesus! Lord Jesus, I feel Your Mercy and Grace when I speak or write the Name of Jesus and I praise You that You so freely bestow Your Grace on “whosoever” calls upon the Name of the Lord! JESUS, JESUS, JESUS.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JANUARY  31  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#02-03 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<   JQ#2  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47) Jesus with His JQ#1 got us to thinking about how we treat others and to use those “natural” abilities God endowed us with to better mankind and the Lesson was that we should give of ourselves “physically” since we “are salt” and to give of ourselves “spiritually” because we “are light”. We are to do these things because we are made in the image of God and Lesson #1 foreshadows Jesus “giving” Himself “physically” on the cross for the atonement of our sins and that He lived His Life “Spiritually” as “the LIGHT of the world”. Now with JQ#2 we hear an echo of “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13) as Jesus draws our attention to the Truth of Love — Love is not what you get from others, love is measured by “How much you GIVE AWAY”!! Jesus is telling us simply to live our lives from the inside out and the more you give away, the more you will have! We certainly tend to measure the amount of “love” in our life by listing the number of people that “love us” but Jesus is saying you “reward” will be given to you because of “the number of people you have loved”!!! I know this is TRUE because the Greatest Love known to mankind came from God which He bestowed on an undeserving world — “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes on Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) I would say that God set a pretty good “example” in “loving the undeserving” and Jesus showed He “loved” the Father by obeying the commands of the Father, even to “giving Himself for the sins of the world” — So the Greatest Examples of “LOVE” come from those that GAVE LOVE — and we should appreciate the fact that it was “LOVE” that motivated God’s decision to Sacrifice His only begotten Son for “undeserving sinners” and we should try to learn the Lesson #2 from JQ#2 that Jesus is trying to Teach us about “love”. We are not “Holy” because others “love” us with worldly “love” — we become “Holy” when we “Love” others with a “Godly Love”, and we are to give God’s Love to those God Gave His Love to — the unloveable and the undeserving; then and only then will we know real “LOVE”!!! To introduce JQ#2 the Holy Spirit brought to my mind Romans 8:37 where Paul had declared one of the Gospel’s main TRUTH that Christians are “more than conquerors” when we “Love” as God Loves and we trust “all things” to Jesus Christ who demonstrated the Great Love of God by being Obedient to the Father’s command in “all things” as He suffered the Cross for our unloveable-sakes. Paul also reminded Christians that this “Victory” over “all things” including the powers of this world comes only through Jesus Christ and we should also understand that Jesus was motivated by the “Love of God”. How can we claim to have any “Victory” in our lives apart from God? God has established the “Right Way” and the “Wrong Way” and they are as constant and unchanging as God Himself. We see that as man “progresses” through time that the only constant of man is that each generation and even the greatest of men in each generation all “fall short of the Glory of God” and that God and His Laws are as Eternal and Unchanging as the rising and the setting of the sun that God has placed in His Universe to remind us daily that we are just a small planet in the midst of more stars than even our greatest scientists can count! Surely with all our intelligence it should be simple for man to see that the best efforts of all our most brilliant minds put together cannot unravel even the smallest detail of God’s Infinite Unchanging Glory. Yet we are arrogant enough to want to declare God as irrelevant and we insist on going it alone? Why our selfishness drives us to such self-inflicted agony cannot be explained aside from the reality of our world that we all “want” all “things” to be all “ours” and we ignore God and His TRUTH, who from the very beginning established all the Laws of the Physical Universe. God also established all the Spiritual Laws of the Universe as well! It can be observed by mankind that the Spiritual Realm does exist. We seem to ignore the fact that the Spiritual Realm has a greater effect on the Physical Realm than vice versa. It is a part of observational science to conclude that unhappy, dissatisfied, and angry people cause more harm to themselves and others around them than do happy, content, and loving people. All these “motivators” are “spiritual” emotions and even our courts express the consequence of expressing ourselves physically relative to our spiritual states. Realize that God is the Creator of all things and that there are Spiritual Laws and Physical Laws that are undeniably interwoven in the fabric of Life by the Creator. There is a reason God continuously commands us “to love” and “not to fear”. Think on your “emotions” as you try to answer JQ#2  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47) and God will guide you in your thinking about “loving others” and I’m betting you’re going to find that the more you give away the more you have and you are simply going to “love” it! After all — everlasting life is a pretty good “reward”!!! 

JANUARY 30 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#02-02 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#2 “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JANUARY  30  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#02-02 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<   JQ#2  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

030 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, the Eternal Unchanging God of my Salvation. Lord I praise You for Your Faithfulness and Unfailing Grace You extend to all who call upon Your Name, Jesus. Lord, I pray today the same prayer I prayed in 2004: “Jesus, praise Your Holy Precious Name for You are Worthy of our praise. All glory we give to Thee and to Thee alone. Lord may we do nothing in our lives that is not a praise to You and may all that we do bring Honor to Your Death on the Cross, that man may know that the Father God loved mankind enough that He would provide Salvation to a sinful world through His Only Begotten Son, Jesus, who for our sakes suffered greatly for our sins. He was innocent before the Father, yet as He bore our sins on the cross, He also had to suffer the rejection of a Holy Father who cannot look on sin — all this suffering of the Innocent so that the guilty world can live the Victorious Forgiven-life through the Victor Himself, Jesus the Christ!”     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JANUARY  30  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#02-02 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<   JQ#2  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47) Jesus used JQ#1 to remind us that it is not about what we can take from the world but what we give to the world that gives us worth by stating very plainly that we “are salt” and that we “are light” and we must stop and think about the Truth of God contained in “salt” and “light” from God’s Viewpoint in order to grasp the Lesson Jesus Teaches and why He would start His 33 JESUS Questions by using “salt” and “light” and to State a Truth of God about who we “are” in God’s Plan — “You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world…” (Matthew 5:13a & 5:14a) Jesus does not command us to become “salt” and “light” but Jesus makes His Divine Point by first stating that we “are” and then Jesus asks the Question JQ#1 “…but if salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13b) Jesus immediately gives us the Answer in the form of “Consequences” as He says, {about tasteless salt} “…it is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men” (Matthew 5:13c) and {about light} “A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket…” (Matthew 5:14, 15a). Jesus sums up the Truth of God using common logic but we must first focus on what is TRUE or we will miss the TRUTH of God. Jesus illustrates this by JQ#1 and lays out the “FORMAT for HIS TEACHING” — (1) We are to look for the OBVIOUS TRUTH that the Question will focus us on then (2) Jesus will give us the Answer if we will Listen. (3) Jesus uses God’s Law of Choice and Consequence to make His Divine Point. God’s Law of Choice and Consequence can be found throughout the Holy Bible and its importance is verified by the OBVIOUS TRUTH that it was applied to the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. To emphasize His Divine Point, God spoke everything but mankind into existence! However, after God had created everything else we read in Genesis that God made man with His own Hands and God used His own Breath to breathe life into man and then God again used His own Hands to remove a rib from Adam’s side which God used to make Eve, the woman which God presented to man to be a helpmate! God then “planted a garden”  and placed the man into the Garden of Eden to “tend {work} and to keep it {treasure it}” (Genesis 2:7-15) and God established the Law of Choice and Consequence — “And the LORD God commanded the man saying, {TRUTH — GOD PROVIDES} ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; {The LAW} but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, {of CHOICE} for in the day you eat of it, {and CONSEQUENCE} you shall surely die.’” (Genesis 2:16-17) The LORD God established with the 1st Law of Choice and Consequence that the “penalty for disobeying God {sin} is death” but the reward for obeying God is “eternal life”. God gave us a “CHOICE” in the form of FREEWILL and therefore we are under obligation to look at God’s Holy Word for the TRUTH to guide us in making “Choices” but we should keep in mind that the “Rewards” and “Penalties” have already been laid out before the foundations of the world and God applies them fairly and equally to all mankind! Therefore with that TRUTH of GOD in mind, let us apply that to JQ#1 — Truth: God made us and expects us in our “natural” state to be salt and light. “Law”: Salt and Light are used to add taste to those that use salt which must be consumed to get the salt flavor out of it and Light makes things visible to those who use the light to find their way. Rewards for a Good “Choice”: Using salt adds flavor to our lives and being in the light, we can see to find our way. Consequence (penalty) of a Bad “Choice”: without salt, life is bland and tasteless and without light we will stumble and fall and get off the path and lose our way in life. These “Truths” are common to man and when common logic is applied to each situation it will reveal these “Truths” — but once we see the Truth, then we are faced with a “Choice” and our responsibility to God is to use our God-given intellect to use His Word to make good “Choices”! If we stop and think, we can see the rewards and penalties but we must look through “Spiritual” eyes because our worldly eyes are tied to the “physical” world which contains the “lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life” (1 John 2:16) — the worldly temptations that are common to man! JQ#1 teaches us about God, Jesus, ourselves, and about our attitude toward others, and keep in mind that this is JQ#1 and God thought it important enough to make it the first Question/Lesson! So it will behoove us to consider that “salt” and “light” are worthless unless they are used by others — my observation is that “salt” is a natural occurrence and can be considered of being “physical” but “light” is still an unknown quantity and one of the mysteries of God and in my opinion falls into the “spiritual realm” because the first “Words” that God spoke came when God looked at the world and saw darkness and chaos, “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’ and there was light.” Genesis 1:3. God’s Holy Word is given to give us understanding and God has demonstrated that He Will Provide for ALL our NEEDS — the TRUTH OF GOD is the WORD OF GOD and since we are made in God’s image, He declares our likeness to Him when He states His Truth that we “ARE SALT” and we “ARE LIGHT” !!! With the Lessons of JQ#1 fresh in our mind, let us then look at JQ#2  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47) and consider both the Lesson Truth of JQ#1 and this general truth statement about God (that is “TRUE” because of His Great Love for us), and it goes like this: “There is nothing that we can do to deserve the Love of God but the Good News is that God’s love is not dependent on who we are or what we do. God Loves us because He chooses within Himself to Love us and His Love is totally dependent on who God IS, therefore, there is nothing we can do to lose His Love!” This idea of God choosing to love us in spite of our sins because of who He IS could possibly be (in my opinion) the Root Cause of Grace itself and makes a really good place to start looking at JQ#2 — (Context: Matthew 5:18 - 6:24) and the Question(s) contained in Matthew 5:45,46, & 47. For JQ#2 we will look at the context of the Questions and also consider “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37) and the fact that we cannot be separated from the love of God! Then we should also consider why Jesus concludes JQ#2 (4 questions asking the same thing, I think) with a this command: “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”  (Matthew 5:48). If you have as much trouble being “perfect” as I do then JQ#2 is a great Lesson from the Master Teacher to help us improve!!! 

JANUARY 29 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#02-01 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#2 “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JANUARY  29  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#02-01 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<   JQ#2  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

029 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, each day is a special day if we start that day with You! Lord my prayer as I awake and start planning my day is that I “seek first the kingdom of God” and allow  Your Holy Spirit to direct me down paths of righteousness and then teach me Your Ways as only the Holy Spirit can! Lord, what a privilege to sit under Your teaching and open Your Holy Bible and let Your Holy Spirit guide us through Your Holy Word — Your Eternal, Matchless, Life-giving Word! Lord, I pray now for all parents to see the importance of living their day-to-day lives in Christ and the impact and influence that living for Christ has in the lives of their children and will be the greatest step they can take  to bring their child to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ!  Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY!!!   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JANUARY  29  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#02-01 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<   JQ#2  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47) Jesus used JQ#1 to get us to thinking about our responsibility towards others by using “salt” which must give up its essence to be flavor to the world, and “salt” is also universally known to contain healing properties as well but regardless of its use, it must be applied to the circumstance and in each case, the “salt” is consumed. Jesus used “salt” to focus our attention not on ourselves but on our responsibility to others!  As we move from JQ#1 to JQ#2 please remember that “Context is king”. JQ#1 context for being “salt” & “light” is Matthew 5:1-16. The context for JQ#2 is Matthew 5:18 - 6:24 and Jesus continues His Lesson on looking first to ourselves to make sure we are prepared to take care of others, this is what the airlines advise when they tell parents to first put on their oxygen mask in order to be able to assist others! It is imperative that we read the context around each question and in doing so it becomes obvious to even the most casual reader that Jesus is a Master Teacher and as such we must understand that when Jesus asks a Question He is not looking for knowledge for Himself but is trying to impart knowledge to the student. When Jesus asks His Question, He is making a common sense statement that if one really wants to learn the TRUTH then one must answer honestly within themselves the Questions that are asked to see if we are seeking Truth and are willing to listen to the Answer! Jesus never spoke without Teaching, His every breath, every step, every moment of silence, every action Jesus made, all were Lessons Jesus was teaching us in how we are to live our lives by following His Perfect Example! Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us for a Divine Reason, and He had a Divine Purpose for being born in a manger and growing up as “one of us” yet He lived His Life without sin! How did He do it? Jesus accomplished this Miraculous Feat  because He knew the Father’s Will for His life and was Obedient to do that which the Father had taught Him. Jesus told this to His disciples just before going into the upper room for His final Passover, “For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.” (John 12:49-50). Our study of the Questions that Jesus asked should be studied from this specific viewpoint: “If Jesus asks a question He is engaging us to dig deeper to learn the TRUTH because He is trying to teach us what the Father taught Him, and the result of our efforts will be everlasting life!!!”  We should never take anything Jesus said lightly because in His own Words, Jesus is speaking only the Words that the Father God in Heaven spoke to Him and then sent Him to earth to speak God’s Words to us! We should be in AWE of these Words spoken by Jesus and exclaim as even His enemies did who heard Him: “The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this Man!” (John 7:46). Let us then consider the next Lesson/Question JQ#2  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47) The context in which Jesus asked JQ#2 is in Matthew 5:43-48 and we should dig deep because every Word spoken by Jesus is a Kingdom Treasure!!!