Father,
Our culture has taught us about a different kind of “Jesus.” It’s taught us to follow a Jesus who brings worldly success, conveniences, and all the comforts of our fleshly desires. This culture has sold us a false Christ! But Your word remains true. It has shown me even before You came in the flesh, You would carry my suffering and be familiar with temptation.
Isaiah 53 says,
“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering…”
This Christian journey; the life I live in service to you does not require success by the world’s standards. It does not require comfort or fame. When I am rejected, remind me that you experienced that first. When I stand in faith and my words are despised, remind me that you experienced that first. When I suffer or feel pain, remind me that you felt the same for the sake of my transgressions being wiped away. Thank you for being a God who understands. A God that has seen it all and still loves me.
Thank you Jesus,
Amen