As we are on the post-side of Easter I hope you are still thinking about the cross and our Savior who died on it. We often forget that He was God in the flesh, a flesh that made Him 100% man while He was also 100% God. It is so easy sometimes to discount the “man” part of Jesus. We sometimes have the idea that His suffering was less than what we would have felt because He was God. It was the opposite. From the beginning, Jesus knew what was going to happen. He knew Adam and Eve would reject the plan that God had for their lives, and God’s holiness would never allow sin to enter Heaven. Jesus knew He would be the one to pay the price for what they had done. It was not forced on Him by the Father, but He was able and willing to be the one to satisfy the wrath of God against sin.
Coming to earth to become a man would mean he would lay aside His deity for a period of time. Was he still God? The answer would be a resounding yes! However, he chose not to live by exercising His deity. He lived as a human being just like you and me. He became a servant, a servant to His fellow man, and a servant to the Father. He laid down all of the splendor of being God’s Son. A spender that was equal to God, but laid aside for us, so that he could live, and feel what we feel. Therefore, He could say, without us doubting, that He knows how we feel, that He suffered every temptation we have, yet He did not yield to the temptation and sin.
Hebrews 2:18 “For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.
Hebrews 4:15 “For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
Jesus trusted the Father to work in and through Him, just as we do. He sought strength in the garden when praying before he was arrested. His prayer was so intense that the Bible says that his sweat was as great drops of blood. The intensity of that prayer is greater than I have ever experienced. He was committed to pleasing the Father no matter what the pain or cost.
Philippians 2:6-7 “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:”
If you have accepted the sacrifice of Jesus for the payment of your sins, you are a joint heir with him. You are entitled to be called the child of God. All the riches of Heaven are yours. He feels what you feel, and gives strength to overcome anything that Satan throws at you. He offers us a richness of spirit as a member of the family. We have just as much of Jesus’ help as we want. He does not show favoritism and allow one child strength that He does not offer the same to another. He is your mediator with the Father, and He will go to Him on your behalf. It is up to you to determine how close you will be to Him.
As you are obedient and seek to please God, He will grant you everything you will need to live a full, rich, and satisfying life as His child. Jesus made all of this possible. When He became a man, He granted you the opportunity to this kind of life by the sacrifice He made. With Jesus as your sacrifice and mediator, you can live as close to God as you want to be. You are the limiting factor in your Christian walk. Why not chose to lay aside the things that are robbing you of your time with Him? Don’t let the temptations of Satan cheat you by making you believe that things in this life are more important than fully seeking Him. Let this person who is 100% God, and 100% man change your life!
Psalm 34:8 “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”
