WHO WE ARE: We Cannot Do It Alone

"For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason, he had to be made like them, fully human in every way…" Hebrews 2:16-17 (NIV)

Do you ever feel afraid? Stuck? Like no one else gets what you’re going through? Have you faced a temptation so tough you physically hurt? Or experienced the sharp awareness that if you are supposed to make it on your own—you just can’t? You won’t.

Ever since the sin of Adam and Eve and the Fall of humanity, these feelings have been part of the human condition. We may try to ignore them. At times, we may seem to work past them, by applying self-help tips from trending experts. But, if left to ourselves, every human comes back to the same place: the devil has enslaved us to sin and fear, and we need Someone with greater strength to break us free.

The book of Hebrews tells us that humanity’s help arrived in the person of Jesus. He became our brother—became human—to return us to the family for which we were created (2:11-12). Fully God, he took on flesh and blood in order to fully share our humanity (2:14, 17). He did this:

1. So he could taste death for us and so break the devil’s power, freeing us from slavery and fear (2:9, 14-15); and
2. So he could become a merciful and faithful high priest, who knows the suffering of temptation and offers us help in the midst of it (2:16-18).

Humanity needs help. We need Someone with a strength beyond our own. Without it, we are lost and without hope.

But the good news is this: help has come to us in Jesus, God-become-man.