“The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.” (John 1:14, The Message)
I love how Eugene Peterson paraphrases this passage of scripture. As a long time follower of Christ, I have experienced seasons when I followed Him at a distance or so closely the dust of the Rabbi, gathered on my clothing.
Jesus being fully God and fully man (Colossians 2:9) allows me to understand that He knows what it is like to suffer and better yet, He can do something about it. Just as we share in Christ sufferings we can also share in His comfort:
” All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-5, The Message).
Jesus, Would you move into the neighborhood of my heart transforming my situation for your glory. Amen.
~April Dawn White
*Image courtesy of Pixabay. © 2016 April Dawn White, All rights reserved