God's Compassion 2

"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God's throne of Grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."     Hebrews 4:13-16

I remember friends from church studying the Bible with me as I was learning to follow Jesus, and going through this passage, but they stopped at "must give an account." That's pretty scary!!! In reality it's terrifying. Nothing hidden from God's sight and one day we are going to have to give an account to Him...Gulp!!! They used an illustration, "imagine if everything you thought and did was shown on the Jumbotron in Times square for everyone to see, how scary would that be?" So I thought I better clean up my act to be approved by God. And every time I sinned and confessed to people I was read a scripture and told what I needed to do. A "works" mentality, how sad!

Praise God that He didn't stop there, instead He shows us His very nature and character....compassion! Jesus is our High Priest who has gone into heaven and is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, because He has been tempted in every way, just as we are.......yet didn't sin. It could have said he was a High Priest who judges our weaknesses, criticizes our weaknesses, condemns our weaknesses and punishes us for our weaknesses...but it doesn't, He sympathizes with our weaknesses.

Now think about your temptations, your actions and your thoughts and you might be thinking, no-one can relate to what I am going through, my stuff is really bad. But back up a moment. The scriptures say that Jesus "was tempted in every way, just as we are." Every Way!!! Not just some ways, not some of the weaknesses and sins we consider the "lesser sins," (by the way, all sin is equal to God, some just have greater consequences here on earth than others) but All sins. So whatever sins you and I are struggling with, giving into or fighting....Jesus can relate, he can sympathize with us, he understands us and accepts us where we are at.

But He doesn't leave us there! He pours out His mercy & grace to help us in our time of need. That is the Power of God! The Power to Transform us! Over the years I have seen so many lives transformed by God. Marriages reconciled, families healed, addicts set free, cowards become courageous, overeaters learning self-control, prisoners released and a slew of others. I have seen God transform my own life from being insecure, an anxious nail-biter, smoker, alcoholic, adulterer, work-a-holic, greedy, envious competitor in everything, to being someone who is simply content in life with God. (Doesn't mean I don't struggle, I do, but I have a Best Friend in Jesus that I can go to with everything).

Finally, we can go to Jesus and expect mercy and grace. The word "mercy" comes from the Hebrew word "hesed" and means loving-kindness. A fuller description is that of someone showing loving-kindness, compassion, putting themselves in your shoes and giving endearing friendship. This is what we receive from God and then not only that but we receive grace. The word "grace" comes from the Hebrew word "chen" and literally means a stooping or bowing down from a superior to an inferior, it also releases an enabling Power into our lives. So now picture this in your mind and imagine how it must feel to come to "God's throne of grace" with your weaknesses and sins; and be met with loving-kindness, compassion, relatability and endearing friendship, all in the face of God stooping or bowing down and giving you the power to help you with whatever you are going through in life. Pretty amazing, huh!!!

This is why we can be confident approaching Jesus and God, because this is the reception we receive and this transforms our lives!