PODCAST
Assured Love
June 9th, 2022
Hebrews 2:14—3:6
Jesus spat. I’d prefer to deny it, except that the gospels mention it often, almost as if they knew we would recoil at the sheer humanness of such an act. Jesus—who is fully God—did all the things that a human body does.
Our Hebrews passage emphasizes this human nature of Christ. How does Jesus being human (including the temptation to sin) help us? The key is understanding what galvanized Jesus to navigate His own temptation.
When Jesus was baptized, a voice from heaven said, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). Then, and only then, did Jesus go into the wilderness to be tempted. In other words, Jesus—who was just as human as you or I—was able to navigate temptation because His whole life was based in the certain knowledge of God’s assured love. The strength of Christ was simply this: He knew God loved Him.
Beloved of God, do you know your identity? Do you know that God loves you? Or are you still white-knuckling temptation through your own strength?
Author: Tara Thomas Smith
