Relevant Relationship

First off, I want to start by saying I completely suck at blogging...just found that out. It has been almost a month of nothingness on my blog. So I apologize for that. A lot has been going on in real life though. Lots of running around downtown and hanging out with people...all on a gimp leg. (I sprained my ankle playing basketball @ the local university) It seems like that the longer that I am here, the faster the days fly by. I am not sure if it is because I am busy, or if I am just taking days for granted. Either way, I want to slow down, step back, and look at what God has done and what is left for him to do here. But as I have been reading through the first couple books of the New Testament, God has really been showing me things about Jesus that has really changed my relationship with him. Probably the foremost thought that God has pounded me with, is the whole concept of Jesus' life.

Its hard to imagine someone being fully God AND fully human. For me, I have always understood that he was fully God. How else could he have risen from the dead? Performed all those miracles? Prophesied his butt off? But the big thing God has really been showing me lately is how "fully human" Jesus really was. He got hungary (Matt 4:2) and thirsty (John 19:28). He loved to have fun (John 2:1-12). He experienced love and compassion (Matt 9:36). He cried because he was sad his friend died (John 11:35). He needed to sleep because he was tired (Matt 8:24). He had to choose to be obedient through the things that brought him suffering (Hebrews 5:8-10). Satan tried to break him down and tempted him with the greatest earthly stuff (Matt 4:1-11). All of these things are what we experience!

The fact that he went through these things makes our relationship with him even more relevant. We have no room to say "Well, he talked a good game...but he never really proved it. He doesnt know what this is actually like." He faced the same things we do. Yes, the times have changed and we have things now that they didnt back then...but that does not make what he did any less significant. We are tempted everyday. He knows that food, thirst, and rest are very important. He knows how much fun....fun really is!! He knows how much it hurts when you love someone and they dont love you back. He knows how hard it is to be obedient even when everything is going wrong. He processed those feelings and set the example for what we should do! Which means that if we have a hard time with any of these things, all we have to do is look at what he did. We have the answers to our questions at our fingertips!

But the more and more I look at Jesus' human characteristics the more I see his true motive for being crucified. I feel like the #1 reason is because he was being obedient to what God told him to do. There is no way that Jesus would have preferred that he be the sacrifice. Especially when he did nothing wrong. To be totally disconnected with his dad for no reason would be the last thing that he would want. Who wants their dad to turn their back on them? The only reason that he wanted to do it is because God wanted him to do it. And yet again, I cant imagine the "human" emotions that he went through while hanging on the cross. But God had everything in place, and had the perfect plan to overcome sin. All he needed was his perfect sacrifice to obey him.