God man

Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered.                                                                                          Heb. 5.8

Jesus came to earth as a man, but He was still the boss’s son. He could have played on this, but such was not His manner. He entered fully into His humanity, yet He did so with an awareness of His divine origin. It’s my belief that the God in Him could have changed His path and His suffering at any time, yet the path and suffering that He chose is all the more meaningful because He chose it through being God. I further believe that His perfect life came from His human application and determined obedience to his Father.

Yes, He determined to obey. He chose, throughout His earthly life, to live only to do the Father’s wishes. This was His sole motivation. What a wonderful encouragement this is to me, giving me an excellent example to follow. He suffered and through suffering He learned obedience. This is interesting. He committed to the Father’s ways yet it seems He still had to learn obedience. And the way this came about was by suffering.

Is suffering mandatory? I don’t think so, yet I don’t know of any believers who have not suffered in some respect. Suffering, then, may be experienced to differing degrees in different people. But the point to take hold of is to be willing to learn from any suffering that comes.

Jesus said, “Follow me.” He lived His perfect life seeking always and only what the Father would have of Him. He bore his cross. He died on the cross thereby fulfilling the greatest plan of all time. He suffered greatly. In all His suffering, He was obedient. And He says: “Follow me.” Will I?

Lord God,

I don’t know that I could welcome suffering, but I do want to be obedient. I want to follow Jesus and live to the fullness of what You want of me. Lead me forward today. Let me live to Your agenda. Have Your way in my life, in Jesus’ name I ask.                  Amen.