JULY 15 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#21-19 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#21 “What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” (Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JULY 15  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#21-19  >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#21  “What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” (Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

Daily Prayer to JESUS    

Jesus, keep my eyes always on You, keep my focus on the Hope that You lay before us as we follow Your Way, keep my heart longing to be “One” with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as I know that You will keep me showered in Your Mercy and Grace that my life will be Abundant with Peace and Joy. Lord Jesus, You are Gracious and Forgiving so keep me centered in Your Will. Give us each day our daily bread and keep me ever mindful that if God be for us, who can be against us!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JULY 15  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#21-19  >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#21  “What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” (Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)    Jesus, being the Master Teacher, spends as much time on a particular subject as is necessary to bring His disciples to the point that they “understand” what He is “Teaching” with His Question-Lessons. This section of Scripture has been a Lesson on sin and He has again made the crystal clear point that if we fail to “understand” to perceive the Truth of God in the Lesson that the “consequences” of our misunderstanding will have an impact on where we spend our eternity. When Jesus says “Woe to the world because of offenses.” (Matthew 18:7) and in the very next sentence He points to our personal responsibility for our sin by the example, “If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you” (Matthew 18:8) then those verses leaves no doubt that it is ourselves that is the originator of our sin; it is not “the-devil-made-me-do-it” myth ——— the devil himself has deceived us with his rebellious suggestions which are nothing more than lies ——— but, the originator of our sin is us, our sin is personal and we should be well aware that the Truth of God about sin is what King David wrote: “Against You, You only, have I sinned and done this evil in Your sight.” (Psalm 51:4) The other worldly myth this verse destroys is the myth that if we have not involved someone else and that what we are doing is “personal” then it is not a sin (???) then we miss the point that sin is against God and we do not have the right to decide what sin is or what sin isn’t. We suppose wrongly that without God there would be no sin and that is what the world is trying to get us to believe, that there is “no God” and that whatever we want to do with our own bodies that we have the “right” to “choose” what we will do with this earthly body and wrongly assuming that there is no “sin” because there is no “God”!?!?! When your mind is turned away from God and His Standards of Morality then you have committed the “unpardonable sin” — for God has ordained each soul with Free Will and if we “choose” to turn from Him and live without Him then His Hands are tied because we tied them with our wrong-thinking about God! God will not force Himself on us, therefore if we turn our mind from Him then He will respect your God-given Free Will and therefore our “sin” cannot be pardoned because the only One that can “pardon” sin is God and if you turn from God and refuse to acknowledge His Power of Forgiveness then God cannot forgive you; hence, the “unpardonable sin”. The Truth of God is that the definition of sin is being disobedient to God, and the enemy of God lies to us and says that to free us from our responsibility to God all we have to do is believe the “lie” that there is “no God” ——— but a world without a Fair and Just God making the rules must take on the awesome responsibility of making our own “rules” and being our own “god” ——— and all of us has proved with our own lives that we cannot take care of ourselves properly, must less take care of the moral good of everyone else!?!?!  There is the reality facing mankind that there is no “life” without God but life without God leads to death and destruction!!! God is the Creator and there would not be a reality without Him and regardless of what the majority decides is a “law”, that does not have any impact on the Reality of God and God’s Moral Standard that He has established ———mankind cannot make God go away nor can mankind legislate “morality” ——— God has declared what is “good” and what is “evil” and God has declared what is “Right” and what is “Wrong” and those that refuse to follow God’s declarations are in Truth the “lost sheep”. JQ#21b asks “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety and nine and go to the mountains to save the one that is straying?” (Matthew 18:12) So the world-without-God will tell you that since “there is no God” that your answer must be that if you are “lost” then “tough luck” because there is “no shepherd” and if you can’t find your own way back then you will have to accept your own “fate/destiny”. Jesus is pointing out with this Question that God is going to take care of ALL of His “sheep” and that if we “stray” from His Protection and Provisions that He will do whatever is necessary to bring us back into the “fold” and keep us safe. “Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” (Matthew 18:14) Jesus says back in verses 8-10 that we are going to be held personally responsible for our sins and that our sins will lead us astray but then Jesus concludes with the “Hope” that if we listen for the Voice of the  “Good Shepherd” that we will be “found” for our “Eternal Hope” is that He is searching for us and is calling for us to let Him save us from our sin against God, but if we refuse to hear Him then we will be “lost in our sin” which leads “into the everlasting fire” (Matthew 18:8) Do you want to take the responsibility of providing for your own eternity based on a “worldly myth” that man invented for his selfishness ——— or do you want to Trust the Creator God who unselfishly gave Himself that we might “not perish but have everlasting life” with Him? The voice of the Good Shepherd is asking in that still small voice: “What do you think?”