“And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, ‘Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’” – Mark 14:37-38
Jesus knows us so well, doesn’t He? We have the best of intentions, but so often, in the moment, our bodies defeat us! A great test was coming, Jesus commanded His closest followers to pray, but instead they slept. The most critical thing to do in that moment was praying and they chose sleeping. Most of us can probably sympathize! How many Christians have good plans to read the Bible more consistently, pray more often, and practice other key spiritual habits, but in the end, won’t make the necessary daily sacrifice of a few minutes of sleep and a few minutes on our phones?
The body, its desires, appetites, and weaknesses is a powerful influence. However, as followers of Christ, we have the resources to overcome it. If we’ll commit to use them. It takes discipline and some sacrifice. Enormous spiritual growth and transformation is available to us through Christ, if we’ll simply exercise the daily self-discipline necessary to experience it.
Following Christ is hard. Jesus was clear on this point. It requires self-denial. It requires devotion to prayer to resist temptation, rather than pretending that with a bit more sleep we won’t be tempted. It involves the sacrifice of time and sleep sometimes. But it’s worth it! As followers of Jesus, we should want to live a better life that’s pleasing to God. Are we willing to do the hard work of daily prayer so that we can overcome temptation?