36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter.
41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it,
may your will be done.”43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
Today, I want to talk about what it means to “submit.” Now I realize that the word “submit” is not a very popular word. It is not a word that most people really understand, at least not with clarity. And, yet, I think it’s very important to a person’s development, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, to know what it means to “submit.”
When I was a little boy, I really did not like to eat peas. My mom told me that peas were good for me. But, when I looked at a pile of peas on my plate, all I could think of was how mushy and squishy they would be when I took a spoonful of them into my mouth and began to chew.
So, when my mom would give me some peas, I would take my spoon and push the peas over to the side of the plate. I would be very careful that all the peas stayed together in that little pile. Then I would eat everything else on my plate, and hope that by saving the peas to the very last, maybe Mom wouldn’t make me eat them.
But, do you know what? She would make me eat them every time.
Now sometimes, I would sit there and not eat those peas for a very long time. My mom would say, “Dean! Eat your peas!”
And, I would say, “Yes, Mom.” But, I wouldn’t eat them.
In a little while, my mom would say, “Dean! Eat your peas!”
And again, I would say, “Yes, Mom.” But, I still wouldn’t eat the peas.
Finally, my mom would say, quite sternly, “Dean! Eat your peas. You cannot leave the table until you eat those peas!”
So, finally, reluctantly, very, very slowly I would eat the peas. The moment I began to eat those peas, I began to “submit” to my mom. You see, I did what my mom wanted me to do. That’s what it means to “submit.” We submit, when we do what someone trustworthy wants us to do.
God want us to do what He tells us to do in His Word, the Bible. He wants us to submit to Him because He loves us and because He always knows what is the very best for us. God is certainly trustworthy. He’s someone worthy of our trust. And, He has given us power through His Holy Spirit to enable us to submit to His will.
It’s important for us to remember that Jesus, God’s Son, gave us a beautiful example of what it means to submit in the Garden of Gethsemane. On the very night that Jesus was going to be arrested on false charges and ultimately crucified in our place on the cruel cross of Calvary, He asked God in prayer to spare Him. But, and this is the really important part, He ended His prayer with the words, “Not my will, but Your will be done.” He submitted to His Father’s perfect plan.
Because Jesus knew what it meant to submit, and because He willingly submitted His will to God the Father, we received forgiveness for all our sins through the shedding of His precious blood. And, because He rose again from the dead, He gave assurance to everyone who believes in Him that he or she would have eternal life.
Will you pray with me?
Thank You, God, for loving me. Thank You for always knowing what is best for me. Help me to learn to submit and do what You tell me to do. In Jesus’ Precious and Holy Name. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment