Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube with images and lyrics from the group The McCraes singing … He Knows My Name … poignantly singing of how our Lord came down to us to know us - even by name - in a way that He could never have without becoming one of us and dying for us on the cross.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Hebrews 2:9, … 18 [NLT] … 9 What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was given a position “a little lower than the angels”; and because he suffered death for us, He is now “crowned with glory and honor.” Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone.
… 18 Since He Himself has gone through suffering and testing, He is able to help us when we are being tested.
… And we should make our plans based on the “Master Plan,” … i.e., God’s word.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Hebrews 2:9-18 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus, for a blink in history (HIS-STORY) became a man so that He could have divine empathy for mankind.
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Reference Passage : …Isaiah 53:6 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK … 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all.
… God’s prophesy of the Lord coming to become man to be able to take man’s sin upon Him as the Lamb of God.
Reference Passage : … Philippians 2:5-11 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God set aside His glory to become one of us, die on a cross, and return to heaven with the Father’s empathetic stamp of glory.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Estera Escobar, uses an interesting story to illustrate how one Christian decided to build empathy with the homeless and how that connects with how Jesus came from heaven to know us. The ODB author wrote … Keith Wasserman has chosen to be homeless for a few days every year since 1989 in order to grow in love and compassion. “I go to live on the streets to expand my perspective and understanding” of people who have no homes to live in, says Keith, executive director of Good Works, Inc. [see photo]
I’m wondering whether Keith’s approach to become one with those he’s serving might be a small picture of what Jesus did for us. God Himself, the Creator of the universe, chose to confine Himself to the vulnerable state of a baby, to live as a human, to experience what we all experience, and to ultimately die at the hand of humans so that we can experience a relationship with God.
I agree with the ODB author that Keith Wasserman’s strategy of temporarily becoming one with the homeless allowed him able to walk “a mile in their shoes,” is about the closest thing we humans may be able to do to see what Jesus did, coming from Heaven to us for a just a blink of HIS-STORY, … setting aside His glory and majesty so that He could add humanity to His divine nature (see Heb. 2:9-18 and Phil 2:5-11). And our Lord did this to be able to walk with us and return to Heaven, reinstated by His Heavenly Father, to be able to help mankind find the heavenly glory that we’d never be able to find without Him [see Is. 53:6].
So, what can we do - even today - to set aside our status - our egos - to reach out and walk with others whom we may be able to help more readily by “walking a mile in their shoes?” It’s a little scary to think about it; but I think we must try; because … what was our Savior willing to do in setting aside His glory for us?
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for becoming one of us to be able to truly know us by name.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that all reading here can, and will, join me and to do all we can to set aside self and become more like divine empathy of our Lord. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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