What Life in This World Was Like for Jesus

The sufferings of Christ. 1 Peter 4:13 (NIV)

Think about Jesus’ experience of life in this world and remember we have freely chosen to identify ourselves with Him and to follow Him.

1. He worked as a manual laborer, making just enough to get by.
2. He was never married and He had no children.
3. He never became a homeowner and He had no place to lay his head.
4. He was the special focus of Satan’s attention. The devil tempted Jesus with greater force than any man has ever been tempted.
5. He was the most underappreciated person who ever lived—rejected in His own hometown!
6. He experienced the constant frustration of colleagues who did not understand what He was saying and were reluctant to follow where He was going.
7. He knew the deep pain of being betrayed by one with whom He had shared so much of life.
8. When He faced His hour of greatest need, His friends let him down.
9. When false charges were brought against Him, there was nobody to help Him find justice.
10. He knew what it was to reach out in love, and to experience hatred in return.

That’s what life in this world was like for Jesus, and we have chosen to follow Him. So if your experience is the same as His, that’s par for the course! If you have more than He had, then regard that as a unique gift and privilege from God.

Is your experience in this world less than, about the same as, or more than what Jesus experienced?