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?
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