This Sunday we will be heading to Sand Key Beach for a youth beach trip. We will be leaving the church at a little after 1pm. The time at the beach will be from 3pm – 6pm. We should get back to the church around 7:30pm We are meeting up with several other youth groups from Lutheran churches in the Tampa area.
In addition to this being a youth beach trip, we are also meeting to plan future Tampa-area joint Lutheran youth ministry. If you would like to participate in the planning and help us start a Tampa-area Lutheran youth ministry, please sign up to come.
Also, while this is a youth event, anyone can come. So, if you aren’t a youth and you just want to go to the beach, you are welcome to come along.
People can drive separately if they wish. Make sure you are at the beach by 3pm. If you want to travel with the church, we will be leaving Faith shortly after 1pm on Sunday.
Please RSVP so we can get an accurate count and make sure we have the appropriate number of drivers.
Please also indicate if you are riding with the church or driving separately.
“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,” – Hebrews 2:14
When you hear that Jesus is God, what does that mean to you?
In yesterday’s devotion, we talked about the difficulty of understanding Jesus’ dual nature as true God and true man and we looked at the God side of that equation. Today, we look at the man side.
Jesus was fully human.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” – John 1:14
He had to deal with all the normal human traits. He got hungry. He had to sleep. He had to use the bathroom. He grew up. He could get hurt and He got thirsty.
“After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’” – John 19:28
As Jesus prepares to go to the cross, we see His humanity shown front and center. Praying in the garden, He asks the Father if there is any other way for Him to save us other than to suffer and die on the cross. In this moment, Jesus isn’t questioning the plan of salvation nor is He considering backing out. He is struggling with His humanity, knowing the physical pain of the whips and nails and the emotional pain of betrayal and the Father turning away from Him that was to come.
Jesus became man for our salvation.
He took on flesh that He might stand in our place and be judged for our sin. His humanity bore the sin of all humanity so your sin and mine would be removed. Now, through faith in Jesus, we stand guiltless before the Father and can truly call Him our Father.
Jesus also understands.
He has been hungry.
He knows what it’s like to be rejected and betrayed.
He knows what it’s like to suffer.
He knows what it’s like to be tempted.
He has become our priest, our mediator. He advocates for us in our weakness as one who understands our weakness. So, we can go to Him in our times of weakness and know He will draw us close to Him and strengthen us. We know we can lean into Him. In fact, when we are weak, He is our strength…which is greater than our strength ever could be, which is why we can say with Paul,
“For when I am weak, then I am strong.” – 2 Corinthians 12:10
Dear Jesus,
Thank You for becoming human like me, for becoming weak like I am. Thank You for being there for me in my weakness and understanding. Thank You for helping me in my weakness and giving me strength. Help me to always go to You when I’m feeling weak…and even when I feel strong.