Lent Book: https://www.thegoodbook.co.uk/an-ocean-of-grace
My jottings:
(Comments welcome)
Ocean of Grace (17): FRIDAY – A
Highway to his Heart (p61ff)
Give thanks that Jesus, our brother, our Great
High Priest, is able to sympathise with us in our weakness. He knows what it’s
like to be a human being not only because he is the all-knowing God but by
personal experience, from the inside. He did not stand aloof from our
predicament but entered fully into a real human life. He knows what it is to be
tired and tempted. He was hungry and limited and finite according to his human
nature. As a man, Jesus learned and grew and suffered. Although he was always
sinlessly perfect, his faithfulness was perfected in the sense of tested and
matured by suffering. We have a Saviour who like a precious metal has gone
through the fire for us and has proved to be true. Jesus was authenticated as a
perfect High Priest suitable for us by his trials.
The Bible tells us Jesus was tempted in every
way, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:14). Dwell on that!
No doubt his temptations were worse than ours.
Would not Satan have assaulted Jesus more fiercely than he would have attacked
any other human beings? Jesus hated sin much more than we do. In a way we are quite
happy to sin: we give in to temptation easily enough sometimes. Temptation must
have been such a trial to Jesus’ pure soul whereas in a way it is sometimes
very congenial to us!
Our temptations are often short-lived because
we give in to them! But Jesus never took the easy way out marked “SIN”. He
endured temptation, resisting and resisting going the long, narrow and difficult
way of faithful obedience. For him the battle went on where we would long ago
have admitted defeat embraced sin.
May Christ be a comfort to us when we are
tempted.
Lord Jesus, thank you for your perfect
holiness and your sympathy for weak sinners. Help me to flee from the tempter
to you. Give me a holy hatred of sin and a love for you and your ways. I long
today to be a little more like you. By your grace and the power of your spirit,
help me to make progress in the way of holiness today, for your name’s sake.
Amen.
Hymn: How Sweet The Name of Jesus Sounds
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gytGndHEMZY
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