Yesterday we looked at the ways in which Jesus connected to humanity and shared the experiences and impacts of brokenness although never succumbing to temptation Himself.
But you might be asking yourself "So He really understands what we are going through... So what? How does that help me?"
Here's how:
1. The throne we approach is a THRONE of grace. The One who sits on it saw our brokenness and died and rose again triumphing over it. He is victorious! He is ultimately in charge - trouble has limits!
2. We can approach CONFIDENTLY. We know where we stand with this God. He is neither too harsh or too soft on our sin. He has dealt with it perfectly and completely. His exposure to the realities of the broken world means that my failures don't shock Him. When I come to Him, He is a complete realist about my sin - He knows it is fatal and He has already died in my place and risen in victory.
3. I receive MERCY and GRACE. (Mercy is not getting what I do deserve and Grace is getting the goodness of Gods presence, forgiveness and love even though I don't deserve it.)
4. His love and understanding compassion are not overcome by the troubles of this world. He knows the troubles of the world and He knows just how to give us HELP in a time of NEED.
When we struggle, we are not alone. He carried the cross to Calvary and it signified the weight and burden of a broken world that He carried in His heart.
But there's another great truth about our Companion and we'll deal with it tomorrow.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
