Scripture

Our verse for today comes from Hebrews 5:8, “He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.”

Background

I’ve had a problem with Jesus for a long time. And I would dare say that I’m not the only one. And the issue is basically this – how can a perfect, infinite Son of God need to learn anything? We all know that He was fully God and fully man, and conceptually I accept that. My hang-up is not so much with the union of these two natures. It is more basic than that, and probably speaks to the condition of many before and after they follow Christ. For I think that before a person is saved, his struggle is with the Deity of Christ. There is a resistance to accepting and submitting to His authority and claims. But after that person accepts Jesus, convinced of His atoning power and lordship, there can then develop a struggle with the humanity of Christ. It makes sense to believe in the risen Son of God, but how did that Son of God need to learn obedience?

Application

I don’t intend to solve that mystery, in case you were wondering. But what I am coming to terms with is what it means to be Christlike. And much of what it entails involves obedience. In fact, I think that we do not and will not know God deeply if there is a limit to what we’ll do and endure for Him. There is a level of Christlikeness borne out through obedience that only comes through the willingness to experience whatever He has for you, even if it is suffering befitting the perfect Son of God, who is at the same time our example and our enabler. If you lack in any way in your relationship with Jesus, then there is something that you have taken off the table as far as your willingness that is affecting your closeness with Christ, whether you realize it or not. There was something that Jesus needed to learn that He could only attain through suffering, some level of obedience that got Him to and through the cross. That commitment is required of us if we are to be fully like Him. You can resemble Him with less, but you cannot be Christlike. And you will never be fully human until you are completely like Christ.

Charge

As we seek Him today, examine the table you have set before God, and see what you are holding back from Him.

Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words