God continues to look for leaders that are willing to do everything that he asks.
Matthew 26:36 Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” 37 He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. 38 He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”39 He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
40 Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? 41 Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”
42 Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open.
44 So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again. 45 Then he came to the disciples and said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But look—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!”
John 10:18 No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”
Throughout scripture God has been looking for leaders who will do everything that he asks them to do. There were many different responses to God’s authority, just remember how different leaders in the Bible responded, think about Moses, Abraham, King Saul, Jonah they all had excuses and went against God and only partially obeyed God’s will.
Today we see an entirely different man, the God man, he had choices and the power to disobey and yet he was fully obedient to God’s will for his life. You don’t think that he had the power to choose? Could he have gone against the Fathers will? The devil believed that he could.
Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil.
Satan worked overtime on Jesus because he believed that it was possible to get him to be disobedient and thwart God’s plan for a Savior that would make the perfect sacrifice for everyman. Satan worked him over but he was obedient, through all the human suffering and emotion that he experienced he proved to us that it is still possible to overcome all these things that weigh us down and be obedient to God’s will.
Philippians 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!
Even in the garden moments before his arrest, Jesus told God the Father “thy will be done.” Jesus had fully aligned his will with the will of the Father, he said that he had “the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again.” Praise God that Jesus was obedient unto death!
Jesus was perfect at doing his Fathers will despite the circumstances, despite the trouble, despite the emotions through all the trials that he endured, all of which are “common to man” (1 Corinthians 10:13) Jesus was still obedient and he was willing to do everything that God asked him to do.
It should be noted that Jesus had to struggle with the same issues that we use to excuse our disobedience he is our example of the man that completely obeyed his Fathers will.
A follower of Christ may become sorrowful and troubled when one considers the implications of obeying God, obedience can be costly, you may suffer but it will be worth it all to hear the Savior say “well done good and faithful servant.”
There are so many excuses that we use for our disobedience but you proved that they can all be overcome. Help me to live each day in submission to your will.
