God had the power to save Jesus from death. And while Jesus was on earth, he begged God with loud crying and tears to save him. He truly worshiped God, and God listened to his prayers. Jesus is God's own Son, but still he had to suffer before he could learn what it really means to obey God. Suffering made Jesus perfect, and now he can save forever all who obey him.
Hebrews 5:7-9
It really is hard to understand that Jesus learned what it means to obey God by suffering, which it says made Him perfect.
Is there another way that we can learn what it means to obey God? We would like to think that we can learn what it means to obey God by studying the Scriptures. If we can memorize enough Bible verses then surely that will keep us from having to walk in the way of suffering! If not that then giving of our goods and doing good deeds for others would suffice?
Never forget that Jesus Himself prayed the night before He went to the Cross that He be spared the need to suffer! It is not a sign of spiritual weakness that you do not want to suffer. It simply means that you are truly human. Jesus was God in the flesh, but His flesh was human in every way just as we are.
Obedience to Jesus is learned by suffering because obeying Him is doing that which you would not otherwise do. Obeying God contradicts every fleshly desire even to the point of submitting to death on a Cross! Obeying Jesus means that we have chosen to do something that we would otherwise not have done. In that we suffer and in that we learn to obey our Lord!
"Lord, I want to obey You, but I don't want to suffer to learn obedience. By Your Grace and Power may I give up my own desires today and learn more of what it means to obey You as I submit to and even embrace suffering. Thank You Jesus for Your suffering. Amen."
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