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"For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted,
He is able to aid those who are tempted."
(Hebrews 2:18)
Temptation is for real! We all are tempted to do, say, or think something that we should not. We are also tempted to not say, think, or do what we should. Jesus suffered under the weight of temptation, and He knows firsthand what it is like. What great comfort and encouragement to read that He is able (dynamai) to aid (boetheo) those who are tempted. This the third time in Hebrews 2:14-18 that the word "aid" is used.
1 Corinthians 10:13 gives us great hope when it comes to battling and overcoming temptations: "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."
Dr. Al Mohler writes, "Verse 18 reminds us to look backward to the temptations and sufferings of Christ to find encouragement in meeting our own temptations. . . . When we pray to Christ for rescue from sin, we pray to One who has himself walked through suffering and temptation. He is no stranger to our difficulties. He truly has been made like his brothers and sisters 'in every way.'" (Source: Mohler, R. A., Jr. (2017). Exalting Jesus in Hebrews (pp. 34–39). Holman Reference.)
We know all too well that we are our own worst enemies at times. We fall away from the Lord and His Church, the people of God, and we start making poor decisions and choices. Graduating seniors are not the only ones walking away from the faith, believing the lie that what Satan has to offer by indulging the lusts of the flesh is better than what Jesus has to offer. But that is a lie from the pit of hell.
Do you want to be a better person, student, father, mother, grandparent, or someone who blesses others? Jesus, and He alone, enables you to say no to sin and no to what might even be good but not what you are supposed to be doing right now and empowers you to say yes to what is best.
One thing God is teaching me–and I am a slow learner on this one–is patience, one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22, where it is called longsuffering. I am learning that I need to continue to give my best for the Lord and His Church, but I need to hold everything loosely, not gripping things that may not be God's best. God will have His way in us. It will look different, it will surprise us, and it will be so far better than what we could imagine, or as Ephesians 3:20 says, more than we could ask or think.
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