My friend Jim Branch told me a story that happened a few years ago in a high school cafeteria. He was there with a few college students and adults who were Young Life leaders at the school. Jim tells it this way:
I overheard a commotion a few tables away and looked up to see one of the kids who came regularly to our Young Life club on Thursday nights. She had accidentally dumped her entire tray of food onto her lap. I don’t remember what they were having for lunch that day, but I do remember that it was a total mess. A tray full of food was all over her pants and she was on the verge of tears. Immediately her Young Life leader, in a moment of grace and wisdom, sprang into action. She grabbed her friend and whisked her off to the restroom as she said, “Quick, let’s go change pants. You take mine and I’ll wear yours.”
That’s exactly what they did. Within minutes, the ninth-grade girl emerged from the restroom looking like nothing had ever happened. Her Young Life leader came out wearing the pants completely covered with food stains.
It seems like the best way to truly understand someone—and to deeply love someone—is to walk in their shoes, to experience their hurt and chaos with them.
Jesus Understands
Jesus is the one person who knows exactly what you’re experiencing.
The writer of Hebrews speaks of Jesus this way: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet without sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:15–16).
Two-thousand years ago, Jesus put on skin and dove headfirst into our mess. He can sympathize with our weaknesses. He understands everything we are going through.
If you carefully read through the Gospels, you’ll discover that you and Jesus have a lot in common:
- Jesus was born as a baby and relied upon his parents to take care of him.
- Jesus had brothers and sisters.
- Jesus went through puberty.
- Jesus ate, slept, and used the bathroom.
- Jesus spent decades in obscurity.
- Jesus never owned a horse, car, phone, or home.
- Jesus experienced hunger and thirst.
- Jesus battled temptation.
- Jesus grieved the death of his cousin and one of his best friends.
- Historians believe that Jesus’s earthly father, Joseph, passed away when he was young.
- Jesus wept.
- Jesus never dated or married anyone.
- Jesus got angry and upset.
- Jesus was betrayed and abandoned by his closest friends.
- Jesus was falsely accused and unfairly persecuted. People lied about him.
- Jesus was abused and taken advantage of.
- Jesus was ridiculed, bullied, and mocked.
- Jesus suffered great physical pain.
Do you think he can relate to some of the things you’re going through?
Even if you have experienced different circumstances from Jesus, he still understands. Even though he was never blind, he felt the pain of the blind beggar on the side of the road when he touched his eyes. Although he never had to find a date for prom, he understands what it feels like to be rejected.
What Scripture Tells Us
Hear the words the prophet Isaiah used to describe Jesus:
Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this? The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We looked down on him, thought he was scum. But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him. (Isaiah 53:1–6 MSG)
Jesus gets us. He fully experienced what it’s like to be human.
He’s the most understanding person ever to live.
So why does this matter? Hebrews 4:16 gives us that answer.
“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
Because Jesus has gone through the same trials and temptations we face, we can approach him with confidence, knowing that he understands.
When I was growing up, I attended six different schools. I was “the new kid” six different times. I had to find new friends to sit with in six different cafeterias. There were plenty of moments when I felt completely alone. But now, years later, no matter where I am—church, the pool, our kids’ school, our neighborhood—do you know who I notice the most? Do you know who my heart breaks for the most? The new kids. The first-time visitors. The people who’ve just moved to town. My heart is drawn towards them because I know how they feel. I understand. And my understanding motivates me to show mercy.
In much the same way, Jesus understands you. And he longs to show you mercy and grace in your time of need. Run to him. Approach his throne trusting that he knows exactly how you feel. No one else can you love you like that.
Excerpted from Alongside Jesus: Devotions for Teenagers © 2022 by Drew Hill. Used with permission of New Growth Press. May not be reproduced without prior written permission.
Alongside Jesus: Devotions for teens
Have you ever considered that Jesus could actually be walking alongside you? Like right now, in this very moment—even though you can’t see him. If you knew that for sure, how would it change your day? Your life? Because you can’t see or hear Jesus with your physical eyes and ears, walking with him takes a different kind of seeing and hearing.
