They came to a place named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.”
Have you ever watched a parent give directions and watched the child quickly forget what was said? Maybe you’ve experienced this directly. The child gets distracted and moves on to something else without a second thought. Even as we get older, and even with the clearest delivery of instructions, we still fall short. In today’s verse, Jesus was clear with His disciples about what He wanted them to do, yet still the disciples struggled to listen.
On our own strength, none of us can follow even the simplest instructions from Christ. It is a frustrating reality that even those things we know we should not do are the exact things we fall back to time and time again. Paul wrestled with this and said in Romans 8:6-9, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” If you are in Christ, you no longer depend on your own strength to live in faith and obedience. Following Jesus is more than a checklist of things to complete or a lifestyle to abide by. It is an ongoing walk with our Savior. When you struggle with the call of faith, press into Jesus and ask Him to help you do the things you can’t do on your own.
- What are ways you struggle to live out your faith?
- How do you try to complete the call of Christ on your own? What does it look like to depend on Christ daily?
- Pray and ask for God’s help to follow and live for Him.
