Friday, March 8, 2013
Matthew 26:41 "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
LOVE AT GETHSEMANE (5)
"We love Him, because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Love creates love. When we see Jesus' love at Gethsemane we not only are filled with joy and peace but it gives us a greater love for Him. "For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again" (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
We do love Him, but we are still weak. The disciples were too -- too weak to watch with Him one hour. We are too weak always to live for the one who died for us. Jesus shows His love again at Gethsemane. He knows our weakness and promises the strength we need. The words He spoke to his disciples are directed just as much to us: "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
Jesus does not want to lose us again to sin. He does not want us to go back to following the sinful pleasures of the world. He wants to spare us from being entangled by sin again and being lost after He paid so much to free us from our sin. He also wants to spare us from more sorrow and misery. So "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
We are weak but He is strong and we can tap into His strength to overcome temptation and live for Him through prayer. In prayer we can call upon God for the gift of the Spirit. When we are praying to God we will not be tempted to sin against God.
With a close, two way communication with God; speaking to Him and talking about our weaknesses and our needs, praising Him for His love and blessing and also listening to Him speak to us in His eternal Word; we will be strengthened to live as the dearly loved children that we are.
Let us say with the Apostle Paul, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).
