41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
Weak flesh! I don’t know about you, but I know my flesh is. Jesus’ disciples are not the only ones who fall asleep when we are supposed to be paying attention. Or am I the only one? Jesus just wanted His disciples to pay attention while He prayed. Do you have trouble paying attention during worship? How about when you are listening your children? Or when you are in school? Reading the Scriptures? We can often want to do something simple like paying attention, but then our body gets the best of us. Or our priorities get jumbled. Or we just get distracted. Just like the disciples we can get distracted and temptation will follow. Have you noticed that? When we are not paying attention temptation seems to rush in and take over. That is why we must pay attention. Our spirit is often willing. The part of us that draws us into a relationship with the eternal God rejoices when we are enjoying that relationship. And when that relationship is strong, we are strong and temptation doesn’t have that much influence on us. When our relationship is strong, temptation is weak. So if temptation is strong in your life, the way to overcome the temptation is to draw in close to the Lord. Simple but true. I don’t know what was on the minds of the disciples, but obviously it was somewhere other than where it should have been. Perhaps they were thinking about their stock options, or their retirement options. Maybe the next day’s meals or what miracle Jesus would perform the next day. So if temptation seems to be raging in your life, maybe it is time to pay attention to Jesus.
The Arnold Journey 