SCRIPTURE: Hosea 2-5; Hebrews 2
Hebrews 2:16-18
It’s obvious, of course, that he didn’t go to all this trouble for angels. It was for people like us, children of Abraham. That’s why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people’s sins, he would have already experienced it all himself—all the pain, all the testing—and would be able to help where help was needed.
OBSERVATIONS: This passage comes at the end of a reading that contains so much language about love, faithfulness, sin, sexual immorality, and cheating. It is so easy to get caught up in the symptoms (moral terpitude) that the root causes (selfishness, emptiness, and/or distance from God) go unnoticed. But Christ came near to eliminate distance from God. Christ showed us selflessness on a cosmic scale never before seen on Earth. And he poured himself out to embrace an emptiness so profound that only the love of God in his marvelous grace could fill it.
APPLICATION: Joey, your failings, your shortcomings, and your sins point to the selfish emptiness inside. Trade it for a self-emptying life of sacrifice. Take steps today. Be filled by God’s grace and love until you are poured full and overflowing.
PRAYER: God, my life is yours, but I continue to cling to it. My days belong to you, but I steal time from you for my own selfish purposes. My family has been dedicated to you, but I let the world steal our attention in ways that diminish our relationships with you, with our community, and with each other. Forgive my failings, and patiently teach me to pour my life out daily for the purposes you have willed. Through Christ, your sacrifice, Amen.
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