Thursday, April 13, 2006
Maundy Thursday
THURSDAY -- THE WEEK THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
Matthew 26:41 "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
OUR FAITH'S STRENGTH
On the way to Gethsemane we are not suprised to hear Peter say, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you" (Mt 26:34).
We know He has a big heart. He really does love Jesus. But while he asserts the depth of his love for Jesus, he refuses to listen to Him. He thinks he knows better. Surely he knows his own heart.
No, he doesn't, does he? Jesus knows Peter better than the disciple knows himself. He knows Peter's heart -- how his love, though real, is too much sentiment and not enough steel, too much Simon the cocksure son of Jonas and not enough Peter the Rock, the Rock whose strength is a larger Rock, the Rock of Ages, the Rock of his salvation.
Peter wouldn't listen, even though Jesus warned him again in the garden that Thursday night, putting His finger exactly on Peter's problem, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
Is your love for Jesus, your faith in Christ, like Peter's was that night he denied Christ? Are you also so sure your love will prove faithful that you need not take time to examine your heart with care?
"Of course not," you say. But how much time did you spend in self-examination the last time you came to the Lord's Table? How much time have you set aside daily for the strengthening of your faith through the use of the Word of Christ? Do you put yourself in temptation's line of fire because you are sure of your faith's strength?
Let's remember our strength as Christians is not in our faith itself -- that is, in our ability to believe, to trust, to be confident. Our faith's strength is not in itself, in our believing, but in Christ our Lord.
That we might not be lost to Him but grow in faith, Jesus comes to us in His Word and leads us to rest our hearts on that Word which creates faith in His redeeming love for us. Our faith's strength is the love of Christ for us, the love of Him who did indeed lay down His life for your sake and mine.
