Fear No Fear

“So then, as the children share in flesh and blood, He likewise took part in these, so that through death He might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver those who through fear of death were throughout their lives subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:14-15, MEV). Jesus doesn’t just listen to us. He loved us enough to become like us. For about thirty years of His life He was the same as you and I. He had a sinless nature, but He had no special powers. He performed no miracles. He did no special things. He lived, worked, ate, slept, got tired, got tempted, and lived life just like we do. He didn’t teach or preach. He was the same as anyone else. It’s the big reason His hometown didn’t accept Him (Luke 4:14-30; Mark 6:1-6). They knew His parents. His siblings. They had known Him His whole life. He hadn’t shown ANY special ‘powers’ or abilities. He was smart, He was hard working, and He was talented – but only in the sense that anyone else was or could be. There are a lot of intelligent, hard working, and talented human beings. Jesus was one of them. He messed up. I’m sure as a child He did things wrong (as in incorrectly), because that’s how we learn. But Jesus never SINNED. In other words, He might colour on the wall with crayons because it looked pretty, but once His mother told Him don’t do that He would never again colour on the walls. He wasn’t disobedient. Why did Jesus, the Son of God, part of I AM, limit Himself so much? Why put Himself in a body that needed to learn to walk, talk, eat, and go to the bathroom on its own? Why go through DECADES of having to walk everywhere He went? Having to work to study the scriptures? Having to feed and hydrate? Having to obey the authority of human beings? Why do all of that? Imagine coming into the realization you are God, but you can’t do anything that anyone else can’t do? How humbling. How potentially frustrating. Yet Jesus humbled Himself. Jesus suffered the limitation of being human and submitting to human authority. Why? He loved you. He wanted to KNOW you. Anything you EVER go through, He went through something similar. The aches and pains. The being bullied at school. The weariness. The worry about overeating because it just tastes SOOOO GOOOOOOD. The feelings that come on you. The anxiety that threatens to dominate you. The not wanting to get out of bed. Jesus had all of that – and more. He chose to become lower than He was ever meant to be, so that He could know you and you could know Him. So that by following His example and resting in what He accomplished, you could become more than you were created to be. He became you out of LOVE. And to Him it was WORTH it because YOU are worth it.