Your Will be Done

Luke 22:42 "saying, Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not my will, but Yours, be done."


At this moment in the story of Jesus we find Him in the garden, alone, praying to His Father in great agony over the coming hours. Jesus is fully man and fully God. He knows what is to happen to Him, realizing the pain He would have to suffer, but also recognizing the significance of His sacrifice. This is it. His "hour" is about to come to pass. The high point of His ministry is about to take place with His greatest display of love yet - the laying down of His life for His friends. He is aware of what He needs to do but in a powerful display of human emotions He asks the Father to see if there is anything else that can be done to deal with the sins of the world, any other way. Yet He is also in full submission to His Fathers will, even unto death.
This his one of the most powerful demonstrations of Jesus' deity and humanity. As a man, He feels the anxiety and agony of knowing full well that in just a few hours He would have to endure what no man has ever endured. He would be betrayed, beaten, spit upon, ridiculed, forsaken, tortured, mocked, and crucified. Satan would unleash his full wrath upon Him. The restrainer of evil, the Holy Spirit, would have to give Him full reigns to give it his best shot to get even with God. To destroy the Savior of mankind. Jesus would have to drink from the cup of wrath of God. This is almost too much to bear, and He asks "Father, is there not any other way?"
But here we see the deity of Christ in that He never sins in His pain and suffering. He is able to overcome His agony and fully submit to the will of the Father. He never wavered; He never sinned. He never doubted or spoke against God. He willingly gave up His life, endured the shame and saw the redemptive work through to the end. No matter how painful it was, no matter how much torture was afflicted upon Him, He never deviated from the Father's plan, even to the point of separation from God, denying His God nature and making Himself fully sin. It took a superhuman, or God, to go through all this and never once sin himself.
Jesus faced unimaginable suffering, both physical and spiritual, yet He never sinned. As soon as I am put into a situation that feels slightly uncomfortable, I only see my own situation, forget God and sin in some way. How pathetic is that? Some one is not treating me the way I think I deserve and I become critical and judgmental. Remembering what Jesus did for me, willingly, puts everything I have to face into perspective. I have not yet had to suffer unit death, so I need to take heed and, like Jesus, overcome my selfish thoughts and say "nevertheless not my will, but Yours, be done."

Application
Today I will take time to seek the Lord and ask Him to show me where in my life I am acting selfishly. I will make a list, confess, repent, and ask for His strength to overcome that selfishness.