Brad, see what you wrote. lol

The subject of your message is sinpathy. S i n p a t h y. You wrote below:

At 08:06 AM 10/1/04, you wrote:
>Those with speech synthesizers, in case Perfect Paul didn't read the
>subject perfectly, you might have thought it said "sympathy" as in  s, y, .
>m, as in Mike, p, a, t, h, y. But it actually reads "sinpathy" as in s, y,
>n, as in Nick, p, a, t, h, y. New word! Although it is new as of this
>writing, at least to me, the definition is 2000 years old.
>
>"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the
>heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do
>not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One
>who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." -- Hebrews
>4:14-15
>
>It is easy to gloss over this verse, and Paul's use of a double negative
>"we do not have a high priest who cannot" doesn't help. The fact of the
>matter is we sometimes look at our sins, our offenses, our times of trial,
>and the things which seem to separate us from God as a strange and
>unfamiliar thing to God. even Paul in this verse recognizes and calls to
>our need as humans to be accepted within our own society, to take comfort
>in not being a loner in the world, but rather reaching to find some sense
>of commonality even in our sin, that we can find some grace, some sort of
>comfort that we are not alone, at least as  far as being tempted is
>concerned, acting on those temptations is where a separation begins between
>Jesus and us. Reading this verse, I caught a vision of me just walking
>along the street, talking with a brother about the days trials, the
>temptations of anger, ungodly thoughts, selfishness, greed, and the gammet
>of things which God tells us to stay away from, as I expound on these
>things and tell in confidence this friend as we walk how I failed and I'm
>not feeling to good about it, I see this brother saying "I know man, I've
>felt that same thing. I hear what you are saying man, it's tough". And
>looking over I see that brother to be Jesus. We often times, and rightly
>so, expound on the burdens Christ took of all of us on the cross, but have
>we considered the burdens, the temptations he went through while walking
>the Earth  just as we do, so we could take comfort in knowing that he too
>was tempted as we are, and while our flesh has succumbed to those
>temptations at times in our live to give us that immediate satisfaction, he
>suffered through it not acting on it. Imagine the temptations of greed,
>anger, lust, having other gods before the Father, violence,  anything we
>could fathom, Jesus has experienced these temptations but stood strong
>enough against the flesh and the enemy and did not act on them. We, on the
>other hand, have in times past and probably in the future, hopefully to a
>lesser degree as we go through life, succumb to these temptations, and for
>what? For a release of immediate satisfaction, to get that nagging flesh to
>get off our back. If we succumb to it, it can't be tempting us no more, it
>can't steal our thoughts, or cause anguish inside us any longer. But having
>succumbed to it, we  now have guilt within our flesh for having given in.
>Imagine that is one emotion Jesus hadn't felt. And with our ever seeking
>flesh to work against our spirit, never satisfied if we follow God's ways,
>or it's own, bobbling between temptation and guilt, we have conviction
>within our hearts as a guide to let us know when we did wrong, flavored
>with the grace of God, and his word to help us get back on track, and
>hopefully not go down that road again. Imagine if going from Louisiana to
>California was a sin. So one day we are tempted to hop on Route 66 from
>Louisiana and head west finding our selves fully engulfed within the
>boarders of California a few days later. OK, we realize it is sin and
>scratch that route off, never to take it again. But, unknown to us at that
>particular time is that there are many other ways to get from Louisiana to
>California, and in the future we will again find ourselves well within the
>boarders of California  only to scratch  off yet another route off our
>"Spiritual To Do" list.
>
>While we are beating ourselves up over our fallings, we can take comfort in
>the fact Jesus knows what we are going through, he sympathizes with us in
>our sin, God is just, but he also sympathizes with us. If he didn't
>sympathize with us, just think how much less meaning would be in Jesus
>hanging on a tree for us? It would be a cold dutiful task and not an act of
>love.
>   according to word only and not a act of the heart. So next time you find
>yourself a little lower than God's word calls for in your life, realize
>Jesus is sympathetic to your temptations, and stood strong for you 2000
>years ago so you'd find hope and strength in him, and a sense of knowing a
>savior who stood in the gap for you, and who knows what you are going
>through everyday of your life.
>
>
>Brad
>
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