Watch and Pray

2010. It's not just a new year. It's a new decade. Full of possibilities and inevitable change. There are some dire predictions for the next decade, and whether or not they will hold any credence remains to be seen.

Have you noticed how change makes us uneasy? I'm not sure why that is, but I suppose it is at least partly because change is a human trait, not divine. God doesn't change. But the comforting fact is that He allows change and decrees change in order to bring us closer to the image of Jesus.

As I went to bed last night, I asked God to tell me what business I should be about in this new coming year. I turned to my place in the gospel of Matthew, and commenced my reading about the experiences in the Garden of Gethsemane that fateful night. I realized how much I - and the church as a whole - resemble the sleeping disciples. Would they have been sleeping if they really had any idea what would unfold in the next few hours? Would we be so complacent and content if we had any idea what the next few years held in store?

The words of advice were clear. "Watch and pray, so you don't fall into temptation" -red letters seeming to emphasize the importance of the command.

There's no getting around it. I'm pretty content where I am. I'm not easily moved at the idea of changing my life, even for the glory of God. But what if there's more to why He has me here than grocery shopping and exercising on my eliptical, making lesson plans for homeschool and singing in the church choir? What if His glory requires that I let go of the lifestyle I'm so comfortable in? Even if it doesn't at this point in time, something tells me that "watching and praying" doesn't happen without being willing to do so.

So my goal for 2010 is to learn how to watch and pray. Bigger things are coming than we are capable of imagining. The closer we come to the culmination of this world's eventual demise, the more important it will be that we be paying attention. Watching. Praying. Willing to give up our desires for His plans for us. More mature in our thinking and focused on why we are here than how we can make ourselves more happy.

No more sleeping disciples while Jesus pleads for watchful prayer. The Holy Spirit will help us in our weakness if we will let Him.

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." He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."

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."

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."

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."

When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

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. Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"