Jesus, the great and good Master, is always ready to help us. Most people know that He is always ready to forgive us our sins, and that we can come to Him when we are sick or have other difficulties. But the real help that the great and good Master wants to give us, is help to overcome the sin that lives in our us – This is the real salvation He came with, but almost no-one is coming to Him for this.
“Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, this One who is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength? ‘I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save!'" Isaiah 63:1.
A disciple wants to become like his Master
There were many who followed Jesus because of the signs and wonders He did, but only a few became His faithful disciples who wanted to learn to become like their Master. These were willing to be saved.
Jesus spoke to His disciples about righteousness, and if we with our whole heart want to stay away from every kind of unrighteousness—both small and great—we will experience that He has the power to save us, that He is mighty to help us.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3. Only if we are poor in spirit, if we hunger and thirst for righteousness, and sorrow over ourselves can we be helped to become more and more like our Master.
Do you sorrow about your sin?
Most people are not really sorry about their sin. They are not sorry when they do a little bit of unrighteousness or use untruthful and inexact words, even though it is written that if they do such things, their religion is worthless. (James 1:26.) They reckon that they will be forgiven but they don’t seek help to overcome sin.
If we see that some sin still has power over us—for example anger, bitterness, worry, discouragement—then it should become extremely important for us, a matter of life and death, to overcome these sins. We should also sorrow about it that we are not like our Master.
“And now he can help those who are tempted, because he himself was tempted and suffered.” Hebrews 2:18 (GNT).
It is not sin to be tempted; but when we are tempted we must cry out to Jesus who is mighty to help us. He Himself was tempted, but He always sought help from His heavenly Father so that He never sinned in temptation or in a trial, as we can read in Hebrews 4:15: “Our High Priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses. On the contrary, we have a High Priest who was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin.”
If He had given in to temptation even once, the devil would have had a part in Him, and death would have had power over Him, just as it does over all other people.
Salvation to those who obey Him
There was a cry for help in Jesus’ heart as we read in Hebrews 5:7-9 (CEV): “God had the power to save Jesus from death. And while Jesus was on earth, he begged God with loud crying and tears to save him. He truly worshiped God, and God listened to his prayers. Jesus is God's own Son, but still he had to suffer before he could learn what it really means to obey God. Suffering made Jesus perfect, and now he can save forever all who obey him.”
This wholehearted battle, where He prayed with loud crying and tears, was a battle to save us all from eternal death and hell. How great and glorious our heavenly Master then becomes for us! He always overcame! Death could not hold Him! He overcame by being obedient and faithful when He was tempted, and now He can save all those who obey Him. But He can’t help us or save us if we are disobedient or stubborn.
This great and good Master deserves our love and obedience. Let us not leave Him standing alone with all the salvation and help He wants to give us.
Become a helper
We will also become true helpers to the degree that we have been willing to be helped. There is a great need for such people everywhere. They make no demands, but they help and give! They are willing to be helped so that they can again give help to others! They are the most useful people on earth.