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Humanity

Humanity

Words of Faith 8-13-19

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2019

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL

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Philippians 2:7b ". . . being made in human likeness".

 

"You just don't understand!" So often we hear those words. Perhaps from a teenager in conflict or a person in pain. Understanding is important. We are often taught not to criticize until we have walked in the shoes of that person. One of the great cries of humanity against God is that He does not understand the human condition. How can God know what it is like to walk this earth, to struggle with sin, battle the flesh, hunger, or hurt or suffer loss?

The Bible tells us clearly that God's redemption begins with a most basic act of reconciliation. Spirit became flesh. John reveals that "the Word"-- the reason and order of the universe-- became flesh and lived for a while among us. It is no small thing and certainly not easy to understand.

But what Good News! As the writer of the letter to the Hebrews put it: "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-- yet was without sin" (Hebrews 4:14-15).

The model of the priest was someone who was sheltered and cloistered away from the world and temptation. But the Bible tells us that Jesus was fully human and was tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin. Jesus understands precisely the struggles and hungers we must deal with.

Jesus is a High Priest who lived life among people and parties, power, and temptation. In fact, He was regularly accused of spending too much time with sinners! He was God made flesh to live among us. He grew up as a human boy, a human teenager, and a human young adult, with every feeling and emotion and desire that is normal and human. He experienced grief, rejection, and feelings of injustice. He also experienced joy and gratitude and blessing. But for all the humanity of His life, Jesus walked that life without sin, yet without ever denying the validity of those human feelings.

What Good News! What reassurance. When we struggle, when we wonder if we should pray, there is a divine Lord who has entered into the human experience and understands precisely the very things that we feel.

 

Lord, Jesus, thank You for entering into human life. Thank You for suffering and laughing, grieving and celebrating, so that You would know the whole depth and width and height of human experience. Thank You for doing all that so that You would understand my temptations and know how to strengthen me. Help me today with my human struggles. Amen.

 

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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, and our website, and our church app, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.  

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