Jesus Learned Obedience through what He Suffered

Have you ever thought about Jesus having to learn things? Sometimes, we only think of Jesus as being God, but remember, He became a man, too. When He took on human flesh, He experienced all of the things we go through, except sin. He came to earth, and He did strictly what the Father told Him to do. He was being obedient to the Father all of the time. Then, when He had to suffer for our sins, He learned even more obedience, because it is harder to obey when we have to suffer. Finally, He suffered more than anyone will ever suffer, so He was made "perfect" or mature, that by the suffering of the cross He could become the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him. (Hebrews 5:8,9) That is an amazing spiritual truth.

How do you respond to suffering? I believe we would all take it better, if we see it as a means to learn obedience. It is like exercise that grows our muscles. Well, suffering can increase our obedience, if we will just continue to trust Jesus no matter how hard it is. Then, once we have done that well, we become mature Christians, who are able to handle life well, no matter what comes. However, if we break down in suffering, and we do the wrong things, instead of obeying Jesus, we will never really become all that we ought to be. After all, God's ultimate goal is for us to be like Jesus, and we can't do that without learning obedience through suffering like He did.

Tomorrow, I intend to read Hebrews 7-10.