Jesus Asks

Jesus' most effective means of communicating with His disciples and followers was to ask them questions. Here are three questions He asks us. "Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord" and do not do what I command?" Luke 6:46 Why do we? Calling Him "Lord" is almost an afterthought with us. We do it all the time, but we obviously have little understanding of what a "Lord" is to us. It means He has dominion over us. It means we are not our own, but His. It means that our will and desire is yielded to what His will and desire might be. It means that what He calls us to or directs us to do, must be obeyed...at once. As we honestly examine our walk with Him, does this describe us? If we can say, even in part, that it doesn't, then how can we call Him Lord? "Do you want to get well?" John 5:6 Jesus asks this of a man who'd been crippled for decades. He was at a pool that was believed to bring healing. He obviously wanted to be well, but when Jesus asked him this question, he replied with a long list of reasons why he couldn't be. How are we like Him? In our brokenness, be it in body, marriage, ministry, or life, how may we long for all to be made well and whole, but when faced with what must happen in our lives in order that we might be, we balk? We come up with many reasons why we can't escape our addictions, attitudes, problems, or whatever may cripple us. We want to get well, but not so much that we have to yield to all that He may do in making us so. What Jesus says here is, "I know you want to be well, but how desperately do you want it? Will you so fully surrender to me that I can bring it about, and in a far greater manner than you could ever ask? In our afflictions and crippledness, do we really want to get well...no matter what is involved, or we satisfied with a few "improvements?" "Have I been with you so long and still you don't know Me?" John 14:9 Jesus asked this of His disciple Philip, after His resurrection. Philip had asked Jesus to show them the Father, and then they'd believe it was really Him. Yet, His entire ministry to them had been about showing them the Father. How could they not see Him now? For three years He'd been with them in intimate fellowship, yet all of them, and Philip in particular, still didn't really know Him. How, and how could this also be true of you and me? We have years of church attendance. Years of sermons and teachings. Years of having prayers answered, and even seeing His miracles, yet here we are, still not really knowing Him. We've been around Him, but not really living in Him. We've learned much about Him, but we haven't really learned Him. He's been around us so long, but yet, we still don't really know Him. How? How deeply does the pain of His question hit you and hit me? Three questions that He has for us. What are our answers? Blessings, Pastor O