Matthew 26

We've got to be honest with ourselves. If Jesus walked in right now and said that you need to do something for Him, would you do it? I'll bet that most of everyone would answer yes to that question. Even those that don't believe in God would probably obey because if Christ walked in the room, then their disbelief would go away pretty quickly. The problem is that that's not an honest answer. It's a hopeful answer. It's an optimistic answer. It's not an honest answer.

Look at the example of the disciples. Christ asked them to stay awake and pray while He was praying in the garden. These guys lived with Christ. They walked and talked with Him. They knew that He was the Son of God, and they couldn't even figure out a plan to keep each other awake. Peter and the others scattered to the wind when Christ was captured. And Peter even denied Christ three times after he specifically told Jesus that he would never do such a thing.

If the disciples couldn't keep it together when Christ asked for relatively simple things, then how arrogant must we be to think that we could? How prideful are we to think that we can do this on our own? We can't. We never could. And neither could the disciples. That's the whole reason behind Christ coming in the first place. Do you think things would have gone differently in this part of the passage if the disciples had stepped down from their pride and admitted to Christ that they couldn't do it alone? Would it have been different if they had asked for help? We'll never know for sure, but I'm glad that they didn't. It reminds me of what will happen in my own life if I start to get to sure of myself and start to believe that I have the strength to follow on my own.