God's Growing Family

Hebrews 2
v.16 For surely His concern is not for angels, but He is concerned for Abraham's descendants.
v.17 For this reason He had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God. Then He could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.
v.18 Since He Himself has gone through suffering and testing, He is able to help us when we are being tested.

In all that He did, Jesus showed the love of the Father for us. He left the full, intimate communion of the Trinity that had existed through eternity and in willing obedience took on the form of a servant. He shared the entire common experience of birth, growth, and life, and all that is part of it. He became flesh and blood, He ate and drank, He worked and slept, and He suffered, was tempted, remained sinless, and died, cruelly, with shame, but worst of all, in separation from Father God because of the sin, our debt, that He accepted, but had not committed or deserved.

For it was only by dying that He could make the payment that was due, and legally, righteously, cancel our death sentence. By marking that mortgage as paid and releasing us from the ever-present threat of death, Jesus was able to break the power, the fear, the threat of death which the devil has used through the ages to hold all mankind in bondage.

So Jesus is our older brother, the first-born of the Father God. He knows what we are going through. He understands what it feels like. He has been there, felt it, faced it, and came through it without failing, and He will walk through it with us, and give us the encouragement and hope which makes us strong enough to endure to the end. We still have to face each situation, and walk through each trial and testing, for that is what develops our character. But He abides with us, dwells with us, never forsakes us, comforting us through the Holy Spirit who forms the perfect conduit, never speaking of Himself, to bring us boldly into the presence of the Lord God in His throne room.

Hebrews 5
v.8 Even though Jesus was God's Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered.
v.9 And by being perfected in this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and He became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him.

In the same way, as we follow our Master, the One who prepared our redemption and bought our salvation, we learn that we are not greater than Him. As our love for Him draws us to seek a closer, more intimate walk with Him, desiring to know Him as He knows us, He leads us, through our submission, to His will along paths that we do not understand, but that we find to be the right ones to develop His nature, His image, His behavior in us; not simply for our own sake, but for the sake of those around us -- both those in the body of Christ and those God is drawing to the body of Christ.

2 Corinthians 1
v.3 Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! He is the Father who is compassionate and the God who gives comfort.
v.4 He comforts us whenever we suffer. That is why whenever other people suffer, we are able to comfort them by using the same comfort we have received from God.
v.5 Because Christ suffered so much for us, we can receive so much comfort from him.

Compassionate Lord, when we ask "Why?" give us a deeper understanding, a clearer vision, of Your purpose and Your plan. You desire that none should perish, and to that end You have given the most precious thing in Your heart -- Your Son, Jesus. As You give us the various treasures of heaven to meet our needs, make it clear for us that these gifts are the nature and the heart of Jesus. All that we have need of through this life is found in Jesus. The loving gifts You have given us at times of need are expressions of our elder brother, the way He thinks, the way He acts, the words He speaks, His wisdom, His healing, His strength, His grace -- as we have received Your Son, Jesus, in our lives, guide us to share Him with others throughout the day in Your divine appointments.

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