My Brothers!!! (Hebrews 2:11-18)

“For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying,
"I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise."
And again,
"I will put my trust in him."
And again,
"Behold, I and the children God has given me."
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, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Lately reading this passage it’s made me think about my brother Justin and God has used events from our relationship to remind me of my relationship with my Brother Jesus!

One thing in the passage is that Christ says that He’s not ashamed to call us his family.

It was my senior year in high school during basketball season. We were playing our cross town rivals. The coach wants to put me in with barely any time left. Filled with anger and pride, I just look at him like he’s stupid and he decides to leave me on the bench and put someone else in. On top of everything else, it was incredibly embarrassing!

But in my embarrassment, I look up into the stands and see one of our teachers and security officer having to try and calm down my brother, who seems to be more upset than I am that I’m not playing and looks like he’s ready to come out of the stands and fight our coach for not putting me in the game.
In a time of great shame, when my brother had every right to be ashamed of me and to pretend like he wasn’t my brother, He stood up and fought for me and showed the people around me that He cares for me. And I know that’s what Jesus does for me all the time. Every day in my life I give Jesus reasons to be ashamed to call me His brother and every day Jesus Christ stands up for me and says, “I’m not ashamed of you brother!”

Another thing in this passage I love is that Jesus becomes like us in every way so that he can help us and stand up for us. There’s something different about fighting for someone when you know what they’ve been through because you’ve experienced it yourself. Christ came to earth, was tempted, suffered and died so that he could be our helper. He knows how hard life is because he went through. He knows the pain we feel because He felt it!

When my brother stood up for me that day, he wasn’t just some random fan who said, “That’s not fair,” but he knew what I was going through. He went through practices, he went through conditioning. He knew how hard it was and all the work we put in to this team. And so Justin could sympathize with me and stand up for me in a way no one else could!

God I just want to thank you for my brothers! I thank you that you’ve used my brother Justin to teach me more about my brother Jesus. I thank you that Christ stands up for us in ways no one else can because He went through the same struggles we have in life. God I pray that just as you’ve used Justin to teach me about Jesus, you would use him to teach our family and his fiancé Maggie about Jesus too.

Justin---I Love You and Happy Birthday!!!

p.s. Mom I promise your blog is coming!