OUR DAILY BREAD SATURDAY 15TH FEBRUARY 2025 ODB MESSAGE
Our Daily Bread 15 February 2025, ODB Devotional TOPIC: Perfectly Perfect Savior
BIBLE IN YEAR: Leviticus 17-18; Matthew 27:27-50
KEY VERSE: 14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,[a] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. – Hebrews 4:14-15
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Hebrews 4:12-16
Our Daily Bread 15 February 2025, ODB Devotional INSIGHT
Scripture teaches that Jesus was a perfect priest who offered Himself to God without blemish for the forgiveness of all who accept His sacrifice as payment for their sins (Hebrews 9:12-14). The book of Hebrews is filled with the aroma of this good news! The permanence of Christ’s priesthood is noted in Hebrews 7:23-25. Then the author describes His perfection: “[He] is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.
Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever” (vv. 26-28).
Our Daily Bread 15 February 2025, ODB Devotional MESSAGE
The interior designer on the home improvement show raved about the handmade ceramic tiles selected for the home’s new shower area. Different from commercially manufactured tiles, which are all identical, these handcrafted pieces were “imperfectly perfect.” The imperfections gave each tile unique beauty, adding to the charm and style of an otherwise practical space.
I know little of style or charm, let alone how tiles might contribute positively or negatively to it. Yet while those tiles were imperfectly perfect, Jesus, in the incarnation (His coming to earth as a human being), was perfectly perfect. The writer of Hebrews affirmed, “We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15). At no time during His earthly journey did Jesus speak a sinful word or commit a sinful act. He is perfectly perfect.
The encouragement for us, as Hebrews says, is to “hold firmly to the faith we profess” in Jesus (v. 14) because He understands and empathizes with the struggles we endure. He has been there and done that—but perfectly. Our perfectly perfect Savior can help us with all things.
REFLECT: When have you seen your own imperfections on display? How can you give thanks for the perfect Savior who endured all as our perfect high priest before our Father?
PRAY: Loving Father, I’m thankful for the incarnate experience of Jesus—that He lived, walked, and worked in our broken world, yet was without sin.
Our Daily Bread Ministries (ODB) is a Christian organization founded by Dr. Martin De Haan in 1938. It is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with over 600 employees. It produces several devotional publications, including Our Daily Bread. our daily bread devotional for today audio our daily bread booklet (Our Daily Bread 15 February 2025, ODB Devotional )
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