So that I may not sin . . .

Sometimes life sucks. How do I remain a contented child of God when the bottom falls out? How do I treat others well when ignored or despised or misunderstood? What do I do when everyone around me acts ignorantly or selfishly? Can I stand strong when I feel totally weak?

The Bible and my experience tell me that all of this is beyond me apart from Christ. In my humanness, I fall short. I will complain, be harsh and miserable toward others, sin and fall apart under pressure. Without Him, I have no spiritual power.

However, with Jesus I can do all things. He is my Rock, my solid place to stand. He gives me peace in storms, grace in sticky situations, and Holy Spirit power to obey God even in dire circumstances.

For a long time I thought that He can do this in me and does for me because He is fully divine, the Son of God. This morning I realize that this is not the main reason. Rather, Jesus saves and gives me that all I need in dire circumstances because He is fully human, the Son of man, and because He suffered.

Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. (Hebrews 5:8–9)

While Jesus was on earth, He suffered as humanity suffers. He was hungry, thirsty, tired, misunderstood, ridiculed, rejected, scorned, lied to, physically beaten, abandoned, lonely, you name it. 

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

Jesus knows what human life is like. He experienced all of it, yet in all that He went through, He did not sin. In this, He knows how and what I suffer. He knows every temptation that I face and every misery that falls on me because He has been there and battled that.

But He didn’t sin — and He lives in me. This is why I can obey God in all my trials — not because I have the power, but because Jesus obeyed God in all trials — and He lives in me. He has the power and because He learned obedience through suffering, He gives that power to me. I can obey, even in tough times. He is the source of my salvation. He saves me from the power of sin as I do what He asks.

*****

Oh Jesus, the trials are not particularly difficult today, except that I am very tired and things seem bigger with fatigue. However, this truth and the reality of Your grace in trials are not for just this day. Times will come (as they have in the past) when the challenges of life will totally overwhelm me. During those toughest tests, and even now in less difficult days, do not let me forget that no matter how rocky my roads, You have walked all of them before me. You know exactly how to meet every twist and turn with grace and spiritual power. You know how to obey Your heavenly Father, no matter what.

I’m glad that you sympathize with my weaknesses, yet You did not go through such suffering so You might offer empathy or pity. You did it so that You could offer me Yourself and the ability to also obey my heavenly Father, no matter what.