FEBRUARY 06 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#02 “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)

 FEBRUARY 06  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#02  “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 Prayer    

JESUS, Thank You Lord for closed doors and for those times when I stand and knock 

on the wrong door until my knuckles bleed and then Your Peace fills my soul and I know that I have drifted into the stormy waters on the Great Sea of “I-Want”. Lord Jesus, Your Grace is sufficient for me and I beg for Your Mercy as I take that deep calm breath and KNOW that YOU ARE GOD and that YOU KNOW ALL MY NEEDS and then YOUR PEACE will descend upon me! Lord, LORD — forgive me for I let the dark shadows take my attention away from the Bright Rays of Hope that break through all my clouds. You, Lord, control ALL circumstances and I trust You for the outcome and pray that I grow in Your Grace as I face each trial that You allow in my life. There is no circumstance greater than Your Love therefore I pray to keep focused on Your Solution and not the circumstance itself!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS takes us to the self-realization that we are “salt” and “light” and that the purpose God intended for “salt” is to add flavor to other’s lives and then we should use our “light to shine” in such a way as to help others avoid the dangers lurking in the darkness. Then Jesus shows us that we are made in the image of God and that the Greatest Gift ever Given mankind was God’s Giving of His Son at Great Cost and Sacrifice of Himself for the Good of all mankind thereby demonstrating His Great “LOVE” for all His Creation! Jesus continues the Lesson on the “giving-of-ourselves” to help others by giving us a Standard of Perfection to focus our attention on and then Jesus Teaches us to do “charitable deeds” but avoid seeking glory for ourselves  — for “charitable deeds”” done for the wrong reason is the sin of “hypocrisy” which completely nullifies our “charitable deeds” — all our “deeds” should be done with a single motivation which is to “glorify our Father in heaven” thereby making all our deeds “charitable”. God’s Logic in doing things for “His Glory” is that by doing our “good works” for Him we avoid the temptation of selfish vain-glory for our own petty selves, our selfishness being a convenient basket we have to put our “light” under in order that we can puff ourselves up before men! Jesus commanded “you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) then Jesus told us to perform “charitable deeds” but avoid the “hypocrisy” of desiring personal glory for “charitable deeds” but instead do the “charitable deeds” trusting God for any reward that He chooses to bestow on our efforts to achieve perfection. (Matthew 6:1-4) Jesus immediately commands us “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogue and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.” (Matthew 6:5) It should jump out at us that Jesus says that in order to “be perfect” we must “do … charitable deeds” but severely warns us “do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them.”(Matthew 6:1) Those doing “charitable deeds” to receive honor from other men, Jesus called “hypocrites”!!  After doing “charitable deeds…in secret” we are to “pray” but Jesus gives the same warning about “praying” that He did about “charitable deeds” and that same warning came with the same condemnation for those doing their “praying” to gain attention for themselves as again Jesus labeled those motivated by “self-glorification” as “hypocrites”! Jesus has given us “charitable deeds” and “praying” as the first two steps to “perfection” but both steps come with a warning to avoid “hypocrisy”!!! — 2 out of 2 times is 100% — since Jesus preaches 100% against hypocrisy therefore we should realize that “why” we do anything is more important than “what” we do! Jesus has given us two Lessons on “Helping Others” and in both Lessons Jesus has listed in clear detail the “attitude” we should have as we live our life in order to show respect for others in order to give Honor to God! Jesus proclaimed in Matthew 5:13-14 we are “salt” and “light” and then for the rest of chapter 5 Matthew documents Jesus Teaching us to respect others to “glorify your Father in heaven”. Starting with Matthew 5:17 until Jesus stops and asks us His JQ#02 in Matthew 5:46-47 we are given “Spiritual Guidelines” to correcting ourselves to benefit others as the way we are to honor God as Jesus Teaches us to honor the Law, reconcile ourselves before God and then make our sacrifices to Him, avoid lust, adultery, and divorce in our private lives. Jesus continues with details on our life styles as He addresses our relationship with others by discussing perjury and retaliation and then Jesus sums up the Lesson on the “giving-of-ourselves” by telling us “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)   And then to add emphasis to His instructions He says not only does He expect us to accomplish all these “selfless deeds of charity” but we should strive to do them “perfectly” and that perfection can only be achieved by avoiding “hypocrisy” in our journey to “perfection” — it is a TALL SPIRITUAL ORDER  but the ONE giving the LESSONS has “BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT” and is giving us advice from “Personal Experience” that points us to “Heavenly Resources” to help us attain our “Goals” — the Truth of God is that He WILL PROVIDE for ALL OUR NEEDS so if you realize your NEED to “journey to perfection” then you can TRUST (that) GOD WILL PROVIDE the WAY and LIGHT YOUR PATH!!!

FEBRUARY 05 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#02 “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)

 FEBRUARY 05  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#02  “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 Prayer

JESUS, You Lord are to be praised by all mankind for there is not a soul that was ever born that did not or does not benefit from Your Great Sacrifice on the Cross in Obedience to the Father’s Will because You, God’s Only Begotten Son suffered and died for the sins of the world, ALL SIN for EVERY SOUL — so Lord Jesus I acknowledge that You paid my Debt and Ransomed me from my slavery to sin and I claim You as my Redeemer, may I now be found to be a “good and faithful servant” and that one day in glory I will hear You say, “Well Done!”      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS used multiple Questions in Matthew 5:46-47 to basically bring to our mind the necessity of using our talents to help others instead of being selfish and looking out only for ourselves. Jesus brought up the topic of “Love” and pointed out that if we intend to spend our eternity in heaven with God then we should start living our lives in such a manner that it would be pleasing to God who demonstrated His “Love” for us that “While we were still sinners, [God gave us His Gift of His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ to the world and]  Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Jesus made it clear that to receive a “reward in heaven” that we should “Love others” while on earth! Jesus then starts a series of Lessons on how we should be like God in our actions so that others will not see us but will see the “glory of God” shining forth from our actions! Jesus commanded at the end of Matthew chapter 5, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) and then Jesus begins immediately to instruct us on how to “be perfect” as He teaches: “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what you right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.” (Matthew 6:1-4) So in our first step to being “perfect” before God is that we must do “charitable deeds” for others but Jesus warns us not to be “hypocrites” — it is very interesting that Jesus tells us to do “charitable deeds” but immediately condemns “the hypocrites in the synagogues” that are doing “charitable deeds”!?!?!? The term “hypocrites” is always used by Jesus to describe those that “do good things” but that they do them “for the wrong reason” which is a VERY IMPORTANT LESSON on “doing for others” — for Jesus tells us that we should do our “charitable deeds in secret” and avoid the temptation to make ourselves look good in front of other men which would make us “hypocrites” in God’s eyes but we should do our “charitable deeds” in such a manner that we do not get any personal credit but that others would benefit from our “charitable deeds” and “your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.”!!! The VERY IMPORTANT LESSON is that we should GIVE TO HELP OTHERS and TRUST GOD FOR HIS REWARDS. Every time we seek glory from men for some action that we have done we risk being “hypocrites” for when we act on God’s behalf but we do it to receive personal glory from men, we have robbed God! If we do our “charitable deeds” to glorify God, then and only then will God get the glory and we will receive a reward from “God Himself” — man cannot match the Gift of God nor can man give a reward that comes close to matching God’s Rewards!!! So our first step in “perfection” then is to imitate God and do “charitable deeds” in His Name and for the kingdom's sake and not for our own personal glory!!!

FEBRUARY 04 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#02 “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)

 FEBRUARY 04  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#02  “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 Prayer    

JESUS, as I come before You 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’s quote some years ago that I did not understand until 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

JESUS asked the JQ#02 Question directly after JQ#01 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#01 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. Jesus also 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 it will then 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 for 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#01 was to bring our attention to the giving of ourselves to help others and Jesus then follows that Lesson with JQ#02 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!  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 “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)

 FEBRUARY 03  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#02  “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 Prayer    

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 to rebuild our society. O Lord, I know that 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

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 the answer that came to me in the Spirit is that in God’s great wisdom He has 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 as to why we should “Love others” and makes the point 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-others 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 by imitating our God who demonstrated unquestionably 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 “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)

 FEBRUARY 02  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#02  “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 Prayer   

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

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” in the year 2000. 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 and I am sure that there are new lessons and new blessings in answering “The JESUS Questions”! 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 in 2004 that still has so much relevance to my working on JQ#02. Yesterday I wrote that the context around JQ#02 was all focused on understanding the “Love of God” and how important “Love” is to God and then challenged the reader to consider answering JQ#02 which is 4 Questions effectively asking 1 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 JESUS asked Peter three repetitive questions in John 21:15-17. The 3 Questions Jesus 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 a result or “fruit” of when I was first learning how to be a good follower and God had me looking down the path of “His Love”. In this 2004 prayer, I had 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. Since that first “family” prayer in 2004 I have prayed every day for our family and God has blessed and healed our family and God’s Grace has brought us all back together — we have a “Family Night” EVERY TUESDAY NIGHT —  and the entire family gathers for our weekly Family Meal — God is Good! Tomorrow in this blog I will try to put an answer to JQ#02 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 TO OTHERS —“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 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#02 - Matthew 5:46-47.

FEBRUARY 01 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#02 “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)

 FEBRUARY 01  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#02  “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 Prayer    

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 known and unknown to me, that I may serve and love You better.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS tells us in JQ#01 how important it is that we consider others before our selfish worldly desires and then in JQ#02 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 from different angels 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 do 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)  What I personally got out of this section is that Jesus by adding this section on “LOVE” is trying to convey to us 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 “LOVING OTHERS”. We need go no further than John 3:16, (and there is a “Divine” 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 of Salvation! One could conclude that “LOVE” is the key to “everlasting life”! Everyone 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 of God placing on us His Command 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 “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)

 JANUARY  31  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#02  “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 Prayer   

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

JESUS with His JQ#01 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#02 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, “True 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 your “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 the “giving of 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 Lesson #2 from JQ#02 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#02 the Holy Spirit brought to my mind Romans 8:37 where Paul had declared one of the Gospel’s main TRUTHS 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 into 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#02  “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”!!!