"Father, if You are
willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done." Luke 22:42
The
plan had been in place since the beginning of time. Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit had forever been in perfect agreement, but now… now the Son saw it from
the vantage point of dusty sandals and human flesh. From this perspective, the
price to buy back sin-drenched humanity looked almost too high. He’d stubbed
His toe, cut His arm, and taken some breath-stealing punches in his brothers’ wrestling
matches. He’d felt the ache of rejection, the passion of temptation, and the
cry of loneliness. God’s spiritual idea had become His physical reality. The cross.
Evil. Abandonment. His hands quivered at the thought of the spikes. Sweat
beaded on a head that would soon be filled with every vile thought Satan could
produce. Dread was a rabid lion roaring so loudly in His heart that it threatened
to destroy the plan. “Father, please!
Isn’t there another way? Please...”
None
of us will ever face such a horrendous intersection of flesh and Spirit, but we
have our own crossroads. When we accept God’s offer of salvation, we also
receive a new nature that desires to please Him. But with that new nature comes
the sudden realization that some of the things we have cherished cannot stay. Relationships.
Dreams. Lifestyles that clearly contradict everything it means to follow
Christ. God’s plan collides with ours and we fall to our knees in the garden
and cry out, “No! Please, isn’t there
another way?” But, thankfully, Jesus’
prayer didn’t end there. Because of His next words, we can
be made right with God.
Because He said to God, “Not my will, but Yours,” we can say that too.
Jesus never asks us to do anything He did not do first. Are you
following His example in surrendering to God?
No comments:
Post a Comment