The Essential Jesus, Day 46 Who is my neighbor? As we look at day 46 of the Essential Jesus reading plan on YouVersion.com, Jesus shares the familiar story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. As we think through the question, who is my neighbor, many answers have come to mind over the years. Of course, Jesus’s point is that everyone is our neighbor and we are to be treating everyone the way we treat ourselves. So, how do we treat ourselves? What characteristics of that should translate to the way we treat our neighbor? And, why is that different than the way we treat other people? For me, one…

The Essential Jesus, Day 45 God’s love. Today as we celebrate Valentine’s Day and remember the love that we have for others, we can also think about the love that God has for us. Reading through day 45 of the Essential Jesus reading plan from YouVersion.com, we see the indications of the the coming of Christ. The second coming. This time God will come and it will be in a much different way than he did the first time. Read Matthew 24. God is the conqueror over all and all that he has created will one day pass away. When we thimk about all that Jesus is, do we recognize…

The Essential Jesus, Day 44 Be a servant. As Jesus continues speaking, we see his message from Matthew 23:1-39. Looking at The Essential Jesus reading plan on YouVersion.com, we see how God continues to use Jesus to share his message. Service. Jesus is a service and gets calls on to address so many issues, but realistically, it is his service to others that can be so baffling. Jesus serves when it makes no sense to serve. There’s nothing in it for him. How does our level of service compare? How can we change it to make it similar?

The Essential Jesus, Day 43 The foundation. As we look at day 43 of the Essential Jesus reading plan on YouVersion.com we see how Jesus describes himself as the foundation of our life. Read Matthew 7. Jesus Christ is the foundation that we are to build our life upon. He is solid and steadfast and sure. We can be found in him and we are able to continue to move forward because of our position in Christ. Is our life founded on Christ? Do we follow him and base our life and our decisions on him? As we go through the day today, evaluate each and every decision based on…

The Essential Jesus, Day 41 Teach. Jesus is the teacher for all. As we continue our journey through the Essential Jesus reading plan on YouVersion.com we read through Matthew 5. Jesus began to teach them. Christ came to be the sacrifice for the world but he took the time to teach the people and try to help them understand more about who God is and all that God does for them. Are we open to being taught? Are we willing to allow God to teach us and do we seek the instruction of the Lord? We are to be continually seeking after him. Who is our teacher today?

The Essential Jesus, Day 40 Leave everything. Day 40 if the Essential Jesus reading plan on YouVersion.com explains how Jesus directed people to leave everything to follow him. Read Luke 5:1-11. What are we willing to sacrifice to be able to follow Jesus? These fishermen, who have made their entire livelihood based upon fishing, have just caught the largest amount of fish they have ever seen at a single time. What do they do? Jesus tells them to follow him. So, they walk away from the biggest sale and most lucrative deal they have ever had in order to be able to follow Jesus Christ. Can you imagine all the…

The Essential Jesus, Day 39 God has authority. As we look at day 39 of The Essential Jesus reading plan on YouVersion.com, the reading takes us to Luke 4:31-44. Here we see Jesus as he is healing the people around him. The people are amazed, but not just about the healing, but also about the authority. Jesus spoke based on the authority that he had been given by God. He was God. He had all the authority. Do we recognize Jesus’s authority in our lives? Do we accept his authority in our lives? It is through God’s authority that we are able to do anything. When we take a look…

The Essential Jesus, Day 38 Jesus fulfills scripture. As we look at day 38 in the Essential Jesus reading plan on YouVersion.com, we are able to see all that Jesus said aboit himself and how he explained that He is the fulfillment of scripture. Read Luke 4:14-35. As we read scripture, we see all the ways that jesus fulfills it. He is the son of God who was prophesied about. As followers of Christ, we believe that he is who he says he is. If that is true, do we share that message with others? Jesus preached that message, even when the people didn’t believe him or agree with him.…

The Essential Jesus, Day 37 Only worship God. Is we look today at day 37 of The Essential Jesus reading pla from YouVersion.com, we see the story of the temptation of Jesus. Read Luke 4:1-13. Jesus goes out into the wilderness and is tempted by Satan. In every instance, here for instance, Jesus responds to Satan with scripture. In this verse, we see that Jesus is reminding Satan that people are to only to only worship God. If we think about it, everything we are tempted to do ultimately boils down to a temptation to not worship God first in our lives. When we are tempted, the temptation truly is…