FEBRUARY 08 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 08  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 nothing to do but to TRUST that You are the TRUTH, made flesh and dwelt among us to reveal the Father in heaven to a lost and dying world, and by knowing the TRUTH, there is HOPE for a world lost in darkness of sin! And in knowing the Son of the Living God, through FAITH there is PEACE - a PEACE that cannot be understood with our limited and finite intellect therefore it can only be perceived and applied to our lives through the the Lens of Faith leading us down Paths of Righteousness — a road that all believers travel safely down as the LIGHT is ALWAYS ON and Jesus leads us down this PATH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS for He has gone before us and has come to SHOW US THE WAY! Lead on Jesus!!!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS has established with JQ#01 that we are “salt” and “light” but Jesus makes it clear that these are “God-given” talents and as such they should be used for “kingdom work” — we have been blessed by God to be trusted to “enter into His Labors” so we should use what God has given us to help others and we should let the “LIGHT” of God shine in the darkness that seeks to consume the world! In JQ#02 Jesus pointedly asks us again to consider that when we are doing “kingdom work” that we should be doing kingdom work to HONOR THE KING and therefore the best way to HONOR God is to “imitate” God and that is best done by “Loving others” who are as equally undeserving of God’s “LOVE” as we are! Jesus then commands us to “be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) and to make it a “command” and not a “suggestion”, do not miss Jesus declaring “you SHALL be perfect” and not “maybe you can” — No, it is the imperative command, “you SHALL”!!! God never gives us instructions without first making sure that we have all the provisions necessary to complete the task God has given us to perform and once Jesus tells us to “Be perfect” He then proceeds to give us instructions — there are 4 main areas of helping others that Jesus addresses, warning us that when we help others for the kingdom’s sake that we are to avoid being “hypocrites” in order to please God. So far we have seen (1) we are to do “Charitable Deeds” (2) we are to “Pray” and we are to (3) “Fast” (Matthew 6:1-18) and (4) “Serve God” and avoid serving “Mammon” for God shows us clearly that all our desires should be directed towards God and His Kingdom. Jesus uses a series of Good Action/Bad Action events to demonstrate this point: (A) “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal…” (Matthew 6:19) BUT — “…lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:20) TRUTH A: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)  Then (B) “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. (Matthew 6:22) BUT “…if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. TRUTH B: “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23) Jesus sums up the Good/Bad Lessons with this TRUTH OF GOD: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24) This makes it clear that everyone is going to “SERVE” someone else and God shows us that the Master of the world is Mammon and the Master of Creation is God, so the logical question is: “Are you going to serve that which is not eternal and is plagued with destruction such as the things of this world or are you going to serve “God”, the ETERNAL Creator of the Universe and the Giver of ETERNAL Life?” I, myself, can only tell you — “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!” (Joshua 24:15)