Daily Verse: Mark 14:37-42

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him. Returning the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
 

In the text above, Jesus is with Peter, James, and John at a place called Gethsemane. Jesus reveals to these men that his “soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” and that they are to stay put and keep watch while he goes to pray to God. Jesus understands that the time for his arrest and subsequent suffering is near. When Jesus returns the first time after praying to find the men asleep, his response almost seems to say, “You messed up. I get it, I understand. You are weak. Pray that you may not mess up again”. But when he returns a second time and finds the three men right back in the same slumber that he warned them about, he seems a bit less patient and understanding. He wakes them with what appears to be a stern “Enough!”. It’s as if he is saying “Enough of this nonsense. I have told you several times now what to do. It’s time for change!” I think that as Christians, we can too easily rely on the principle of grace through faith and slip into the belief that we can continue status quo because in the end, we will be rescued anyway. But as the words from Jesus seem to imply, there comes a point where we must leave our old ways in the past and embrace a new path with Christ. We can’t simply welcome sin into our lives and willingly allow it to return time and time again. See Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?”. I believe there is a moment when Jesus looks at us and says “Enough…it’s time for a change! Leave those old sinful ways in the past and follow me.” I am certain that Jesus ever gives up pursuing us. But I do think at times we require a little tough love and he gets stern with us to get our attention. The challenge we face is actually hearing and seeing the Lord at that moment. For in the world that we live in, there are an infinite number of distractions that try to convince us that status quo is A-Okay. But from the text above, we see that as a lie. May we welcome each new day with the desire to leave the past in the past and embrace a new life that follows Christ with discipline, joy, and enthusiasm! To God be the glory!