My youth minister once said in a Saturday Night sermon
"...Jesus knows our loneliness, our anxiety, our frustration, our weaknesses, and even our temptations. But the good news is that in Hebrews 4:15 it says "He did not sin" He's not just another Adam. He passed the test. Because of that, He is our savior and our redeemer. You say "What does matter if he can empathize with us? He didn't sin! What does it matter?!?" Here's why it matters: in verse 16 it says "LET US THEN APPROACH GOD'S THRONE OF GRACE WITH CONFIDENCE." With confidence. When we know that when we come to Jesus and say "I am weak and broken, and I am tempted to do these things I hate to do and it's overwhelming..." We don't have to be embarrassed when we stand before God. We can come to Him and say "You know. I'm not saying this to a God that's far removed. You know. You were weak like I am; you faced these same weaknesses and temptations. You know." So we can approach the throne of grace with our sin and things that make us feel shame about ourselves. With the things in our hearts that bring us down and hurt us to even think about! We can approach the throne of grace with confidence. Because we have a high priest who can empathsize with us. Who can say "I know your weakness, and it's OK" And what do we get when we approach the throne with confidence? Keep reading in verse 16. It says: approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may recieve mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need... Do you get this? So when we come to God with confidence and we say "I am weak. I am broken. I am messed up and I am hurting..." Jesus is saying "IT'S OKAY!" He doesn't ridicule you, he doesn't judge you, He doesn't point to you and say "I'm very dissapointed in you." It says we find mercy and grace in our time of need. Jesus said to the Pharisees once that "The healthy don't need a doctor. I came for the sick." Jesus isn't waiting for you to clean up your act. He isn't waiting for you to get a handle on your alcoholism. He isn't waiting for you to fix your marriage. He isn't waiting for you to be a better husband, dad, or brother. He isn't waiting for you to be employee of the month. Or to get out of debt. Or stop gambling. He isn't waiting for that..."
(emphasis added. =) I know I left quite a few words out, but that's most of it I believe...)That's from time "Humanities of Jesus" that you can get on iTunes if you want to hear the rest of it. That one is my absolute favorite. =D
I've been trying to solve SO many problems by myself. "Forget God...He wouldn't care! He has enough going on in the world without me adding to it." WHY do I think like that? Ugh!!!! I do it ALL the time!!! In the back of my head and in my heart I KNOW it isn't true but it's like Satan is just poking at me saying "Hey! Think like this because you aren't good enough..."
Without God we aren't "good enough." But this guy named Jesus, died for us. He knew we were sinners, but He lived this PERFECT life and then DIED for US! If we accept that, then God forgives us! He takes us in and He cleans us up because He loves us THAT MUCH!!!! He's by our side and he CARES and He LOVES us! I am overwhelmed by these thoughts of grace and mercy!!!!! It's so easy to forget that. =(
God's unconditional love. It’s so insanely crazy amazing. I use the words “awesome” “amazing” “insanely crazy” all the time to describe things, but the only other word I could possibly think of is HOLY. Our God is perfect and holy. I truly didn't know what that word meant literally five minutes ago. I'm so tired of using this word and making it seem so great when I don't even know what it means!!! I hear pastors and people, and singers use it ALL the time but I don't know what it actually meant. But now that I do, TRUST ME this is the most brilliant (I just threw in a new adjective into a blog post! lol) perfect, amazing word to describe God. According to this smart little dude named Webster "holy" means: exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness. (Exhalt means to "raise in rank, or power. To elevate in praise or to glorify." I looked that one up too.)
That's God!!!!! Like that song says He is "worthy of our praise." (Big Daddy Weave and BarlowGirl!!!) God is worthy of our complete devotion because nothing on earth matters compared to His perfection. He is good and He is righteous. (Righteous litterally means free from guilt of sin. Webster's online dictionary is pretty cool) God is perfect and God is HOLY!!!!!!!!!!!!
I apologize. This is one of the longest posts ever, and I know I'm probably just saying the same thing again and again. =) But what I'm really trying hard to say is that I LOVE this guy named Jesus!!! I absolutely ADORE Him!!!!!!!!
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