JUNE 08 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#19 “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

 JUNE 08  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#19  “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, You are forever “Teaching” us of the Kingdom and leading us in paths of righteousness but Lord also keep us aware that these are done for “His name’s sake” and all that we do should be directed toward pleasing God by our obedience as You were Obedient, even unto death. Lord Jesus, the world is always pulling us into temptation by drawing our attention to ourselves so Lord keep reminding us to turn our eyes to You for You Lord always point us to the Father. Remind us daily that only God has created “eternal souls” and that it is God alone that will “judge” all souls and determine where that soul will dwell in eternity. Thank you Jesus for keeping the kingdom ever before us to open our spiritual eyes to the Truth of God and blind us to the lies of the world.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has “lived” each Lesson that He has Taught His disciples and Jesus uses Questions to reveal the “Truth of God” by introducing terms and phrases that are “universal” in our understanding of things we EXPERIENCE in our day-to-day existence. Jesus knows all things so His Questions are His Way to get us to turn our attention to things we know from the “physical” world and relate them to things Jesus is Teaching about the “Spiritual” world —Jesus asks Questions but the reason they make so much sense is that Jesus has lived out the Truth of each Lesson and now He is opening our “spiritual” eyes to Kingdom Truth by drawing our attention to the “Way” He lived His Life before men. With JQ#19 Jesus uses the term “soul” and He has set the term “soul” against the term “profit” and the phrase “gain the whole world” as He Masterfully gets our mind to consider something our hearts have desired from the world — “profit” — and as we are considering that with which we are familiar, Jesus hits us with a reality Question like “OK, let’s say you ‘gain’ the ‘whole world’, but once you ‘possess’ all the wealth in the world you still don’t have ‘enough’ to keep from losing your soul?” One always thinks about what we could buy if we won the lottery and Jesus is saying here that instead of thinking about “physical” things that we can “buy with money” that we should think about the “spiritual” things that money cannot buy! The Truth of God is that everything was created by God, including money and wealth, but what we miss is that God has also created “Value” and that is why Jesus has warned us repeatedly against accumulating “worldly treasures” (Matthew 6:19) and encourages us to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).  Jesus Teaches that in God’s eyes we have “Spiritual value” and since God is Spirit (John 4:23-24) that Jesus is Teaching us to consider our “value” from the “spiritual” viewpoint (see Matt 6:25-26 and 10:31) and therefore we should consider why Jesus keeps directing our thoughts to our “soul”? Jesus has previously taught; {1} “It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. (Matthew 10:25) {2} “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28) {3} “Then [His disciples] understood [Jesus was teaching] … beware the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees [men]” (Matthew 16:12) Therefore in order to really “understand” the “value” of the “soul” to God we should not only listen to what Jesus Teaches about the “soul” but we should look at the “Way” Jesus lived to understand “Spiritual Truth”, ——— or do you have a better “retirement” plan or insurance policy for the afterlife than the one being presented by God’s Only Begotten Son?