FEBRUARY 15 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#04 “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3)

FEBRUARY 15  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#04  “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

[POSTED BY LANNY LEWIS]

JESUS, I pray today that Your Spirit will move among all the families that all hurt and separations will be dissolved so that a Great Healing will begin in each and every family. Lord, there is no hope for mankind if mankind remains removed from the family unit established by God and those institutions set up for the good of the family by the Creator God and Everlasting Father. Jesus, You said that You and the Father are One and You prayed that we could be One with You and the Father, so Lord that is my prayer today, that Your Spirit will unite all families that we can be One with You, and the Father, and the Holy Spirit of God!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS is the Great Physician and the only One qualified to do “I Surgery” (see February 14) and successfully remove the “speck” in our brother’s eye and the “plank” from our own! We examined ourselves on the aspect of “judging” as we began looking at JQ#04, Jesus points out to us that we are in danger of becoming worse off ourselves than the one we have tried to “judge” when He asks JQ#04 “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3) Jesus immediately followed that Question with an identical Question just in case we didn’t get it the first time: “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:4)  Two Questions back to back (JQ#4a & JQ#4b) from Jesus and both demand we stop and consider what is happening in our life BEFORE we stop and try to “judge” what is going on in someone else’s life! The language Jesus uses always makes it clear what His meaning is and in this case Jesus immediately asks the Questions and then before waiting for an answer He uses the word “Hypocrite!” He makes it clear that He is calling the one that “judges others” without first looking at himself IS the “Hypocrite!” Jesus makes this evident when He states: “Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye…” (Matthew 7:5a) leaving no doubt that the “Hypocrite!” is the one that fails to see that we should seek to be righteous before God before we try to judge the righteousness of others. Jesus gives us a reward for doing things as He commands for He states that if we will first examine ourselves and resolve our own issues “…then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:5b) Jesus is saying if we do not judge others then He will give us discernment to actually help others instead of judging them! Doing things from the Jesus Perspective keeps our attention on Proper Priorities and it is only Proper Perspective when we keep a right-relationship with God as the first order of business! We are to continually examine ourselves and our motives and when we are sure that we have taken care of spiritual business in the order and manner which God commands, then and only then can we be useful in doing God’s work and help others instead of judging others. God always holds those that want to serve Him to a higher standard so we must be aware of the responsibility of being called Christians!  Each JESUS Question points to a Spiritual Standard: JQ#01 - “…glorify your Father in Heaven…” JQ#02 - “…therefore you shall be perfect…” JQ#03 - “…seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” and now in JQ#04 - “do not judge…” but [remove our own unrighteous] “plank” from our lives before we try to [remove the unrighteous] “speck” from theirs.” The next verse I still struggle with and I pray for God to direct my heart on Matthew 7:6 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs…” ——— surely it somehow ties in with Matthew 7:1-5!!!

FEBRUARY 14 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#04 “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3)

FEBRUARY 14  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#04  “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Praise Your Holy Name for You Lord have given up more than anyone will ever give up and You did it out of Pure Obedience to the Father’s Will and Master Plan of Salvation for all mankind. Praise be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for the Plan of Salvation. Let us not question why God chose Jesus as the Only Way to enter into Holy Fellowship with the Father, but let us instead be joyful and rejoice that God has prepared The Way for a sinner to be saved! Jesus is the Name and the Way to Eternal Life with the Father and the Way to live more abundantly on this earth. Lord, I choose to live with You in heaven and pray to be always focused on the Way to get there.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS has so far asked us with His first three Questions: (JQ#01) to consider that we have been made in the image of God and therefore in God’s Plan for mankind He has decided that we, through our daily lives are to represent Him as the “salt” and the “light” of the earth and (JQ#02) our attention is directed towards separating ourselves from the world, not to isolate ourselves but to let our “light” shine through the darkness in the world — our “light” is to be Powered by God’s Greatest Gift to mankind, His “Love” which He desires to bestow on the world. In order to make our “light” shine brightly we have to “Love others” like God “Loves” us. Then (JQ#03) Jesus asked us to look around at how God has taken care of His world and has provided so abundantly for His Creation and answer honestly, “Is not life more than bread, and the body more than clothing?” which if we do answer honestly we will see that the world is “physical” and in a “fallen” state but through God we can see the “Spiritual” world and the possibilities of “Hope” that exist through following God’s Plan for the “Spiritual” life which He offers freely to all that will “believe” and have “Faith in God and His Plan for Man”. That brings us to the next Question (JQ#04) Jesus places before us, and Jesus with JQ#04 does in the same manner with this 4th Question what He did in Teaching us about “Worry” in JQ#03 by starting out with an imperative statement of the Truth of God: “Judge not, that you be not judged.” (Matthew 7:1) Jesus is very clear on how He feels about us judging others, and it only takes Jesus 2 well placed words to say all that needs to be said about “Judging” in this verse as He states “Judge not…” and then He uses 5 more words — “…that you be not judged…” for a total of just 7 words to Teach us all we need to know to pass a spiritual test on “Should we as Christians judge others?” If we stop and listen to what Jesus is Teaching on “judging” then we can also confidently answer “Why” we should refrain from “judging others”. Jesus continues this important section on “judging others” which boils down to adjusting our attitudes spiritually to promote a positive attitude from others in the next verse: “For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” (Matthew 7:2) What may seem obvious on the “physical” surface to our worldly eyes may need to have the surface scratched “Spiritually” a little for that “digging deeper study” on “judging others” by our worldly viewpoint.  Jesus does make it clear what our initial action should be when He asks JQ#04: “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3) Every time I read this section I get the impression that the Holy Spirit is telling me that if I observe something in someone else that makes me want to “judge them” then I should immediately run to a mirror and look to see what I am doing in my own life that generated that erroneous feeling? I always call this section “I”surgery” because I believe that Jesus is telling us that we should operate on ourself to correct our “Spiritual Blindness” and to be acceptable in God’s eyes before we should operate on someone else so they are acceptable to us. Jesus is telling us that there may indeed be a “speck” in my brother’s eye but if I try to take God’s place and pass “judgment on” the “speck” in my brother’s eye that in “Reality” from God’s perspective I have effectively blinded myself by inserting a “plank” in my own “I” and just as we cannot save someone else from their sins (because only Jesus has that Power to Save) it is our responsibility to share the Gospel of Jesus with them — I apply the principal of letting the “I” Surgeon do “I” Surgery” in this “speck removal operation” — we are not to perform the “I” Surgery operation on our brother, but we should refer them to Jesus and let the Great Physician do what only He can. This is a difficult Question/Lesson so we should look closely at what Lesson the Master Surgeon has to Teach us in this section on the subject of “I” surgery.  

FEBRUARY 13 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#03 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

FEBRUARY 13  THE JESUS QUESTIONS    JQ#03  “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Praise, Glory, Honor to the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and the Only Name by which man can be freed of his natural sin. Lord Jesus, every time we see a cross, our first thought should be of the Great Sacrifice of the Divine Innocence, and the second thought should be that the Cross is Empty!!   The Empty Cross should remind us that God loved us enough to put His Only Begotten Son on the Cross but also that God loved His Son so much that He did not leave Him there!   The Empty Cross and the Empty Grave express the full measure of God’s Love for us and the Resurrection is God’s Eternal Covenant with sinful man. Praise you Lord, for “It is Finished!” (John 19:30)     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS concludes His Lesson on “worry” (JQ#03 - Matthew 6:24-34) with His Advice that we should not seek “things” of this world “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things [God knows everything that we have need of] shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:33-34)   The answer to the  (8) “Why worry?” Jesus Questions in the JQ#03 section is simply to accept the fact that depending on “self” is useless but if we trust Jesus and follow His commands then we will quit worrying about useless things of this world and use all our mental facilities to grow our “Faith in Jesus” and accept what God has in store for our day-to-day lives and our eternal future. The Holy Spirit started me out on my personal Spiritual Journey to God in 2004 with Matthew 6:33 “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” and whenever I feel I am being deprived of some worldly possession, the Holy Spirit uses Matthew 6:33 to turn my focus AWAY FROM SELF AND PHYSICAL POSSESSIONS AND BACK ONTO THE SAVIOR — God’s Burning Love makes my physical worries melt away — it worked in 2004 and has worked every year since and remains TRUE today! There simply is no room in “Faith” for “worry” as the foundation of “Faith in God” is built upon “Trust in God” — “Worry” is simply wrong in the spiritual realm because “Worry” is constructed wholly on “Distrust” and there are NO reasons not to “Trust God” , therefore we should accept with full Faith in God what Jesus commands us: “Therefore, DO NOT WORRY…” (Matthew 6:34) The great thing about the Teachings of Jesus is that He always takes some worldly action or attitude and shows us how to put it into the “proper Spiritual perspective” and use the new perspective to grow in Jesus Himself! Jesus is the original author of “DO AS I DO” because everything He Taught, He Lived, and just like when at the Last Supper Jesus Himself “Broke the Bread” with His own hands and stated “With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer…” (Luke 22:15)  Jesus not only was stating by His actions that He was willing to “Suffer” for us, He was being our “Living Example” — “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” (John 1:14) If Jesus had not lived the Perfect Sinless Life there would have been plenty of people that would have pointed out to everyone that this Man claiming to “be God” was just a sinner like everyone else because even one small sin would have disqualified Jesus from being God! If Jesus had sinned even the smallest sin or been imperfect in even the slightest mis-step there would have been no way could Jesus have commanded us: “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) This command can also be used as a “prophecy” as Jesus Teaches us that if we will become like Him, then we will be made Perfect like Him, “just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” The point in learning from Jesus is to be like Jesus, and to abide forever with Jesus and our “Father in heaven” where finally, after all our earthly mistakes, we will at last achieve our “Spiritual” goal and be given the heavenly prize of an eternal “Worry Free” life. It is “Good News” to know that God knows all our sins and has provided a way that all our sins will be forgiven — it is in the knowledge that Jesus has Redeemed us from all our iniquities that we should listen to JESUS when He Lovingly Teaches us “Do Not Worry” for our “heavenly Father” God Himself has “Good Plans for all our tomorrows”!!!  We all should take great comfort in knowing that God knows ALL for God is willing to FORGIVE all our sin for His Only Begotten Son died on a cross, was buried in a grave but was RAISED TO ETERNAL GLORY on the 3rd Day thereby completing God’s Plan of SALVATION for a lost and dying sin-filled world — we can never hide anything from God but remember GOD KNOWS ALL and if we simply ask for FORGIVENESS in the NAME OF JESUS that GOD FORGIVES us ALL our iniquities!!!

FEBRUARY 12 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#03 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

FEBRUARY 12  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#03  “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, I’m feeling pretty “rough” with this “cold” but I thank You for strengthening me enough spiritually for me to get out and finish my physical jobs. Lord, I trust You in all things and certainly in physical sickness because You are the Great Physician! Lord, I place my “health” (both spiritual and physical) into Your Healing Hands, give me the courage to accept whatever TRUTH You have in store for me!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS not only Teaches us the “obvious” and “immediate” Truth of God with each Question/Lesson, yet, if we are observant and trusting enough, Jesus will reveal simple everyday Truths of God associated with each Lesson — but we must slow down and meditate on the Question to see the Big Picture of the Truth of God that Jesus by His Lifestyle and choice of Questions and the order in which He asks them, Teaches us that Deeper Truth of God that is not seen by just rolling down your window as you drive by the Truth while you are hurrying to get to the next “physical” thing in our day-to-day world. For instance, while writing this blog installment on JQ#03 I am experiencing one of the worst colds I can remember and it struck me as very apropos that as I am “enduring” the worst cold I can ever remember having in my life that I would be studying a section on “worry”!?! Jesus makes it perfectly clear that all our needs will be supplied by Jehovah-jireh the Great Provider with everything we need to eat and to wear but also we will be supplied with every “need” we have in our day-to-day lives to endure the physical world and this is done through God adjusting our “perception” of the world which is a “Deeper Truth of God” that we often miss — by God adjusting our “perception” (spiritual) and leaving the physical world as is, God proves the superiority of the “Spiritual” over the “physical”!!! Jesus uses His “Teaching Questions” in this section to make us understand that God didn’t just make us and toss us out on our own but that He is able to feed all His Creation and if God provides for “the birds of the air” then God Almighty will take care of Mankind whom God Created after His Own Image!! Jesus asks three Questions in a row that leads to His fourth and all these Questions work together to place our “Faith in God” center stage. Follow these (3) Questions: (1) JQ#3b “Are you not of more value than [a bird]” (Matthew 6:26b) — (2) JQ#3c “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? (Matthew 6:27) — (3) JQ#3d “So why do you worry about clothing? (Matthew 6:28a) — Then Jesus wraps up the obvious by making us compare ourselves to the “wisest” man that ever lived, Solomon, who was given everything there was that could be possessed in the physical world and yet for all his wisdom and resources not even Solomon could array himself like God clothes the grass in the field! The scorching thing for me is that Jesus ends this section with JQ#3e “…will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30) Jesus wraps up with stating simply “do not worry” and especially “do not worry” over JQ#3 f, g, & h “what to eat”, “what to drink” or “what to wear” which are all physical things. Jesus then makes His Main Point for the Truth of God contained in this section with two statements: (1) “… the Heavenly Father KNOWS you need these things” (Matthew 6:32) and (2) “But SEEK FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and ALL these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow…” (Matthew 6:33-34a) So when I read this passage and answer the simple Questions I find myself worrying less about my physical needs and concentrate on growing my “Spiritual muscle” — which can only be strengthened by exercising our “Faith in Jesus”! 

FEBRUARY 11 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#03 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

FEBRUARY 11  THE JESUS QUESTIONS    JQ#03  “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Praise You for the Eternal Loving God You are! Lord help us to see how very short a time we have on earth and keep us from wasting these precious few opportunities to draw close to the Creator and author of Forever! It is hard to grasp the concept of eternity because we are so bound by “time” and cannot imagine life without time, but time itself is bounded by a “beginning” which in turn shall have its “ending”. We think in terms of birth and death as markers in our earthly existence but help us O Lord to see ourselves in terms of Life Eternal which never ends! Lord, there is so much more to life and living than death and the grave, teach us about your Unending Love and Abundant Life Eternal.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS went through great lengths to Teach us Lessons about paying attention to life and we should observe not only the Divine Effort invested in our Spiritual Education but we should also pay close attention to the subjects that He is Teaching. All Lessons that Jesus is Teaching us starts out by with a Question about our “physical” perception of the world and then Christ guides by His Lesson to achieve a “spiritual” perception of our life eternal. Far to many of us, and I certainly count myself as the leading contender for the prize of being a slave to my earthly viewpoint, cannot make the transition from the “physical” to the “spiritual” without a special push from the Master and that “push” is in the form of engaging our mental capacities by asking Questions about our physical viewpoint. In this section of Matthew 6:24-33 where Jesus is Teaching us about “worry”, we should note the obvious that ““worry” is a “spiritual” entity and “food” and “clothing” are physical entities. Jesus weaves these two viewpoints (spiritual and physical) together in a special Question in Matthew 6:25b that Teaches us the deeper Truth of God that we view our lives simply as the physical entities we have been programmed by our society to pay attention to like “food” and “clothing” but from a spiritual viewpoint “life IS more than food” and the “body IS more than clothing” — but the only way we can get to that reality is that we have to see our “life” and “body” from a “spiritual” viewpoint!  As long as we stay enslaved to the “physical” world we are bound by “death” but when we transition into our “Spiritual Eternal Future”, which from time to time is afforded the believer, we will see that in the “spiritual” world that there is “more” to life than the “physical” and this “more abundant Spiritual life” Taught by Jesus is not limited by “time” or threatened by “death”. Once we behold the “spiritual” realm we shift from our “physical” body bounded by time into our “spiritual soul” which exists in the “eternal life” given as an expression of God’s Love in the form of an “Eternal Spiritual Gift”: “For God so loved the world that He gave” … and when we accept God’s Gift of “…His only begotten Son…” by exercising our spiritual muscle then “…whosoever believes (belief is totally spiritual) in [JESUS] shall not perish (perish is totally 100% physical) but have eternal (eternity is 100% spiritual) life.” (John 3:16) So it is through “belief” that is “spiritual” which frees us from the “physical” — Jesus is Teaching us how to be free from our physical bonds but we must look at our life through the “spiritual lens” Jesus is pointing us to — “Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36) When reading this passage in Matthew on “worry” it helps to develop your answer by reading John 8:30-36 and John 3:3-6 and you will see Jesus is always Teaching “freedom from the physical” world and the “spiritual” path always leads through the “Spiritual Door” that is JESUS and He is Leading Believers into the “[Spiritual] kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33)!!!  Indeed, “…Is not [spiritual] life more than [physical] food and the [spiritual] body more than [physical] clothing?” (Matthew 6:25).  Jesus was always Teaching everyone who would listen that this physical world is temporary, “But [Jesus] said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about.” (John 4:32) and that He was sent from heaven by God to show the way to God’s Spiritual Kingdom; and Jesus demonstrated by His Lifestyle that He was willing to do whatever it takes!!! “For our sake [God] made [Jesus] to be sin [though Jesus] knew no sin, so that in [Jesus] we might become the [spiritual] righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Revelation states clearly that those that believe in Jesus will be given “robes of righteousness” and Jesus Himself proclaimed “I AM the bread of life (manna from heaven) and he who believes in Me shall never hunger and he who believes in Me shall never thirst!” (John 6:35)  “Never” equates to “Spiritual Eternity” and “hunger” and “thirst” are “physical” entities that enslave the “physical body” with chains of “death and time” — and only by belief in Jesus can we transition from “physical death” to “spiritual life” — as Jesus Taught Nicodemus, “…Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:5-6) 

FEBRUARY 10 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#03 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

FEBRUARY 10  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#03  “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Jesus, Jesus, O the Privilege it is to call on Your Name! Lord each day I have need of Your Mercy and Grace and each day my heart overflows with Praise for You have abundantly supplied all that I need, in spite of my continual stumbling. Lord, You know my heart and I am getting more secure in Your Love because I know that You know the depths of my sinful nature and yet Your Grace abounds deeper still — not because of anything I have done to deserve even the smallest of Your attentions, but You continue to Forgive all of my daily transgressions that I present to You and You Lovingly Guide me to Your Peace because that is Who You chose to be for our sakes! O the Mystery of God, that the Creator of the ends of the earth, the Pure Innocent Redeemer who chose to die on a cross for the guilty, to suffer the agony we deserve and give us access to Your Heaven. Praise the Forgiving God!!!     AMEN 

THE JESUS QUESTIONS   

JESUS started JQ#03 with a section on “worry” and in this section Jesus uses 8 Questions to get us thinking about “worry”. This section in Matthew 6:25-34 contains several verses that the Holy Spirit impressed upon me on my Spiritual Journey to Truth that I feel has led me back to the right path when the world had closed in on me like it so often does to all of us. When you finally get back on the right path again you see that it was some form of “worry” that distracted you and just that quick when we take our eyes off the Truth and let the world and all its worries get our attention we find ourselves off the main road — if we are lucky we will be on a stretch of road that has “warning bumps” to get our focus back where it is supposed to be and the Spirit will redirect our wayward steps and correct our course back from the Broad Path of Destruction to the “Narrow Paths of Righteousness”! Matthew 6:33 is one of those verses for me that has kept me focused on Jesus and when my eyes are firmly fixed on Him, for Jesus again and again tells us that worries and wrong doing have no place in our life. I will attempt to share how my wanderings into darkness were redirected to the Light and the right paths from this section where Jesus Teaches us about “worry” by stating very emphatically: “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…” (Matthew 6:25a) It is a very bold statement but let’s consider JESUS is making it! The “Therefore” comes immediately after Jesus had stated in Matthew 6:24, “You cannot serve God and mammon” and the implication here is that if you chose to “serve God” then there is no need to “worry”. Jesus uses the next 7 verses (Matthew 6:24-32) to show that “worry” is primarily caused by serving “mammon” but closes with two powerful verses (Matthew 6:33-34) that show how to eliminate “worry” — spiritual speed bumps if you will — so let’s look at each of the 8 Questions in this section and apply them to reducing “worry” in our lives. JQ#3a —“Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25b) Each Question that Jesus asks is to make us stop and think about the simple Questions we encounter in our daily lives and give Him back a simple answer that shows Him we are listening to His Teachings. For instance, when I read this passage with the intent of “learning from Jesus” I can more easily come to an answer because Jesus never asks a Question without a specific answer in mind that will Teach followers a specific point that will make our life better if we bother to listen to His Question and answer Him honestly, keeping in mind that if we listen to our answer back to Him that we will indeed learn the Lesson He is intent on Teaching and within every Jesus Lesson is a Truth of God! I am sure that if you stop and consider that “life IS more than food” and “the body IS more than clothing” then you will start to see what Jesus is trying to Teach and the answer then is a simple “Yes, I see now that You have corrected my course”. Read Matthew 6:25 again and literally pray your answer to Jesus through your prayer and then “wait on the LORD” for the blessings that He will pour out!

FEBRUARY 09 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#03 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

FEBRUARY 09  THE JESUS QUESTIONS    JQ#03  “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord there is nothing I can do to merit Your favor but You place within our grasp the very “Power” that brings Eternal Life with Perfect Fellowship with the Father. That “Power” is contained within our Free Will which you have so graciously bestowed on all that call upon the Name of the Lord, even our LORD JESUS. Help me Lord to always be mindful that each and every choice that I make in my daily life has an effect on my Eternity. Lord, too often do I overlook the “divine responsibility” and the magnitude of the importance that exercising my Free Will automatically carries with it! Lord, influence me today to make those good choices for all my tomorrows.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS concludes JQ#02 with “No one can serve two masters…you cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24) and then He introduces JQ#03 with this statement:  “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.” (Matthew 6:25A) Once Jesus has firmly established our line of thinking to consider our day-to-day, everyday experiences He then asks His Question to make us laser focus on the Truth of God  to follow:  JQ#03  “Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25b)  Jesus uses “Questions” as a Teaching tool by asking Questions that He fully knows the answer to — He asks the Question not that He needs us to impart knowledge to Him, He asks the “Question” to impart His Knowledge which is Perfect to us, thereby Jesus uses “Questions” get us actively involved in the thought process and Teaches us to take just another step to being “perfect”. In this Matthew 6:25-34 section Jesus asks 8 separate questions but all of them deal with “worry”. Since Jesus uses Questions as Teaching tools, if He asks effectively the same Question 8 separate times in quick succession it logically follows that He must be Teaching on an important subject. From JQ#02 this thought emerged “why tax collectors?” and that question was answered with the obvious everyday observable fact that “taxes and tax collectors” are a “universal” reference that everyone can relate to, and in JQ#03 Jesus addresses a topic that is also “universal” and affects everyone I know — “Worry”. Again, as is the Teaching style of Jesus, He introduces the topic with an absolute “Truth” and then gets us to “think” about the “Truth” He has just spoken. This JQ#03 section starts out with one such “Truth” when Jesus says: “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; not about your body, what you will put on…” (Matthew 6:25a) and then to emphasize His point, Jesus asks a simple series of Questions that reinforce the Lesson He is Teaching. This teaching method can be compared to a college professor first stating the object of the lesson and then turning immediately around and gives a test question like “What did I just say?” So Jesus states the “Truth” that we should “not worry about our life” and lists some everyday choices we make such as what to eat and drink and what to wear. He immediately makes us stop and consider a Question with an obvious answer just to make His point. Jesus says “not to worry” and then He asks the deep Question that will lead us to a “Divine Truth”! He ends His opening statement with His main Question in this section: JQ#03 “Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25b) His Question at the end of verse Matthew 6:25 is the main Question in this section of Matthew 6:25-34 therefore it needs to be “chewed on” for a little while — therefore, since the “Question” is a basic question about yourself and your everyday life, shouldn’t we stop and consider that Jesus thought it important enough to Teach an “everyday Truth” that we in our “everyday lives” must deal with “day-in-and-day-out”?!?!  If we meditate on “Why” would Jesus bother to “Teach” us about simple “everyday” things we will come to understand that our “everyday, day-in-day-out” lives are important to Him because it is important to “our Father in heaven”!!! When Jesus starts with what is actually a command: “do not worry about your life”, we should assume that Jesus is Supremely Confident that our Father in heaven is going to take care of our needs, therefore the Divine Truth is that “God will supply all our needs” and that our “worrying” never helps anything so we should ask the simple-obvious-logical-everyday question:  “What do we think we can accomplish with our worry that God hasn’t already taken care of in His Master Plan for our day-to-day lives?” We get into Spiritual “trouble” when we make our “worry” a greater power than our “Faith in God” — Trust God that when He commands you “Not to worry” that He HAS YOUR 6!!!