Thoughts on Hebrews - Day 12

                                              Hebrews 4:14-5:2

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. ¹⁶ Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. ² He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.


        We certainly cut ourselves a lot of slack - "I have no filter today because of lack of sleep", "If they had done to you what they did to me, you would have reacted that way too", "I'm not feeling well today, cut me some slack", "My hormones are out of whack today", "I had a bad day at work", "I'm hangry since the doctor said I have to lose weight", "I'm overwhelmed with life right now", and the list of excuses justifying our sinful behavior goes on and on. Yet we have a high priest who came down from Heaven and experienced the same things we did and yet He went through them and never sinned.

        Well you might say, "Yah. but He's God and I'm not, I'm only human"(Ha, see how easy these excuses flow). This passage tells us that if we cry out for help and strength to rise above our circumstances and not sin, He will give us the strength to get through them sinless like Him. Do you believe that? Do you want to believe that? If you do, that forfeits your rights to getting even, letting people know how you really feel, getting equal treatment, building a wall so it doesn't happen again - do you really want to not sin? Your High priest knows that sentiment too and He can help with that.

        The cool thing, too, is that He won't be saying, "You dummy" or "I can't believe you are struggling with that", but will empathetically help you through it saying, "I understand", "I've been there", "I'll help you get through this", "Take My hand", ""The end result will be worth it".

         How was Jesus able to do it? I think a lot of it has to do with His morning quiet times with the Father, long before anyone else would be out of bed. I think also, He knew how serious sin is. One sin and His mission on Earth would be a failure and mankind would be doomed to destruction. Yet we toy with sin and say, "I can always ask for forgiveness." Lastly, He knew God's word so He could use it to defeat temptation. Are we having quiet times and memorizing God's word? Do we realize how devastating sin is? Let's hate sin as much as Jesus and flee from it and to Him!