Our High Priest

Meditations on

Staying In the Grace for Today 

January 9, 2026

Our High Priest

This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses,

for he faced all of the same testings we do,

yet he did not sin.

Hebrews 4:15 

Eugene Peterson’s, The Message, renders today’s verse as,

We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin.

Together, these two translations help us focus on two critical points: 1- Jesus did this, not an angel or other messenger of God; and 2,  Jesus faced ALL of our testings. There is nothing we can experience in life which Jesus has not already been there, and experienced, but without sin.

No, this isn’t about misery loves company. The point of our High Priest first walking our path is revealed in the next verse:

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. (v.16)

Again, I think Rev. Peterson’s translation helps us grasp the writer’s point:

So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help. (v.16 MSG)

Later in Hebrews 12:28, we are instructed to respond to God’s grace by worshipping God with reverence and awe. For me, Peterson’s, “So let’s walk right up to him” clashes a bit with reverence and awe, so I lean more toward coming boldly to the throne. But, getting what he is so ready to give, and taking the mercy and accepting the help, this resonates with me.

My Takeaway: I want to stay in God’s grace for each day, and I am enabled to do so by realizing He is so ready and willing to give His mercy and help.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2026 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.