You’re watching yet another basketball game on TV. A player loses his focus. Passes fall off his fingers. He dribbles the ball off his foot. Completely rattled, he grabs a rebound and shoots it — into the opponents’ basket!
Looking toward the bench, you see the perfect substitute enter the game. Every pass he makes is right on. His every shot drops through the net. What a player! What a substitute!
Life is somewhat like that game. We don’t always act perfectly. The problem is, however, that the consequences are extremely serious and permanent.
God expects us to do everything as good as he does. “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
“Impossible!” you say. “How can I go through life without ever making a mistake? It’s hopeless! Doesn’t God know that?”
Yes, he does! That is why God did something about it. He provided the perfect substitute in his Son Jesus. The Bible tells us about him. “We have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
What a substitute! Jesus can relate to every hurt, problem, and temptation we come across. His body of flesh and blood faced those problems just like us.
Jesus is more than just a human being, however. We make mistakes. We sin. But Jesus didn’t. He is perfect. He is God. He said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
God knew it would take more than just another person of flesh and blood to be perfect. No human substitute would do. It would take someone who is God himself. That’s what Jesus is.
Jesus can understand our situations because he is human. Jesus can substitute for us perfectly because he is God.
What a Savior Jesus is!
It’s a good thing Jesus is God and man. Otherwise, we’d have another sinner substituting for us. That wouldn’t do anybody any good.
Away with the myths about Jesus! We will lose with them. Strive to learn more about the biblical truths about Jesus. We are winners forever with them.
Pastor R.
