"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? (Matthew 18:12)
What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?" "The son of David," they replied. (Matthew 22:42).
(Jesus Teaching People James Tissot 1865-1902)Jesus was always asking, "What do you think?" ("How think ye" KJV). He did not ask so much, "How do you feel?" Though He cared about the hurts of people- healing the sick, encouraging those who were sad. But he continually asked people to think- use their heads that God gave them. He often used circumstances to raise a question-like paying taxes (Mt. 17:25). He used abstract thoughts- (Mt. 18:12) to prepare them for future actions. He also asked them to think and examine what the scriptures said (Mt. 22:42). God is probably less pleased when we put our brain on coast/hold/mute by tuning out watching the TV (My father used to call it "the idiot box'), or surfing meaningless web sites that don't challenge us, or playing video games addictively. Rest and fun have their place, and Jesus tried to make room for both. But his primary question is still for us, "What do you think?" Today, challenge yourself to think just a little bit more instead of zoning out.
Prayer: Help us, Lord, to think and use our heads for you.
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