His Righteousness

I am becoming increasingly more grateful that Jesus lived a perfect life on Earth. I think sometimes i used to take it for granted... thinking that because He was God, maybe it wasn't all that hard for Him to live perfectly.... but the reality is, He genuinely was faced with all the struggles, temptations and pain that we are faced with. He genuinely did weep and sweat blood as His soul was in anguish in Gethsemane... He genuinely did have to resist temptations when they were constantly thrown at Him.... He genuinely did have to endure consistent persecution and opposition.... He genuinely did know the grief of people betraying Him, of seeing loved ones suffer and die, of walking through a broken World.... and He genuinely felt the deep pain of separation from God when He was on the cross and His Father turned His face away... He knew what it was to be mocked and beaten and had to endure hideous physical suffering....He knew what it was to feel the shame of being stripped naked and classed as a sinner, something He wasn't..... and people continuously tried to catch Him out, so He would have had to be on His guard all the time, and think carefully before every word He uttered. When i really stop and think about the fact that Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life in the midst of all this, it utterly blows me away..... and although i used to think that He couldn't have acted any other way, because He was God, and God can only be that which is true to His character... good and perfect.... it doesn't mean it was any less painful for Him to live like this.... it wouldn't have actually made it any easier. I am so incredibly grateful that He walked on Earth in the humble, beautiful manner that He did. I don't live like that.... and it's utterly amazing that we are able to trust in His perfection.. and clothe ourselves in His righteousness, rather than our own dirty rags.