Week 3 Devo – WEDNESDAY
Verse 14 points out that we (humanity) “share” flesh and blood. This means that we all, in essence, come from the same bloodline (Adam), but beyond that, we are set apart in that distinctness. Then it says Jesus “partook,” which in the Greek means that Jesus took “hold of something that is not naturally one’s own kind.”[1] This means that Jesus became something He was not. God became man in order to accomplish something that could not be done otherwise: defeating death through Christ’s sacrifice for us on the Cross.
According to verse 17, why did Jesus have to become human?
How easy is it to turn your back on someone who is trying to help you and tell that person that he just doesn’t understand? The thing is, though, Christ does understand, better than anyone ever could or will! God “is not a cosmic God, powerful and holy, but indifferent. He knows where we hurt, where we are weak, and where we are tempted.”[2] Jesus sympathizes with your struggles and has given you the ability to overcome whatever it is that you struggle with. Look up 1 Corinthians 10:13, John 16:33 and Romans 8:37–39 and mark these verses in your Bible.
What in your life, if anything, do you feel that no one understands? What do all the passages say in today’s devotional about that?
[1] MacArthur, John. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Hebrews (Chicago: Moody Press, 1983), 69.
[2] Ibid, 72.