“Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41).
During the difficult hours of Gethsemane, Jesus not only had a spirit that desired to do the right thing, but because of lifelong practice, He also had a body that supported and obeyed the dictates of His Spirit. In contrast, the disciples’ spirit was willing, but their flesh was too weak to carry out the things their spirit wanted to do. And so it often happens in our own experience. The soul is ready, but the body is weak.
Body weakness is a problem, it is true. But it is also true that there are some things that we can do to reduce this problem. We struggle with the weakness of the flesh, but we are not victims of a problem we can do nothing about. If it is weak, the meat can be strengthened. It can be disciplined. It can be trained.
Daniel’s example is helpful here. In the episode “Lion’s Den”, he demonstrated remarkably strong willpower. Faced with a royal order that ordered the death of anyone who prayed to God, Daniel simply went home and. . . Prayed to God. But this was not a man who suddenly strengthened his will to do the right thing. He was an old man who “knelt down three times that day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, As was his habit from the early days” (Daniel 6:10). From childhood Daniel was train his body To fulfill the desire of his soul in relation to daily prayer.
In the case of Jesus, it would be difficult for us to imagine what His needs were in the Garden of Gethsemane. Nor can we imagine the resources of both soul and body that were available to him in that hour of greatest need. But whatever those resources were, they were not suddenly created in that hour. Every day of his life, Jesus engaged in and disciplined regular activities. took care of his body and trained him To become an ally of his soul. There was more than a coincidental connection between the daily lifestyle of Jesus and the fact that His body was strong enough to carry out the intentions of His Spirit in times of crisis.
“The common human failure is that he wants what is right and important, but at the same time does not commit to the kind of life that will lead to the action that we consider right and the state that we want to enjoy. This is the characteristic of the human character that explains why the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We intend to do what is right, but we avoid the life that would make it a reality” (Dallas Willard).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com AreYouaChristian.com
