Not as I Will, but as You Will

Matthew 26:39

Few, if any, of us can ever fully grasp the tremendous struggle that our Lord went through as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Mark tells us that His mind was “greatly distressed and troubled.” Three times Jesus threw Himself on the ground and prayed in desperate agony.

Why all the struggle? Hadn’t Jesus from the very beginning of His ministry made a total surrender of Himself into the hands of the Father? Didn’t He affirm over and over again, “My will is to do the will of my Father?” Is there any question about the reality and depth of His surrender? Absolutely not! However, there was a terrific struggle between the emotions of the moment and His will. There was the natural shrinking from the excruciating pain and shame of the cross; there was the horrifying realization that He was about to bear the sin of the world. Jesus won the victory when He prayed, “Not my will, but Thine, be done” (Luke 22:12). At that moment, He reconfirmed the attitude of obedience and surrender He had maintained from the beginning.

Who among us, even the most mature child of God, has not gone through a similar experience? We must not get the false impression that surrender is something we do once and for all, and that then is the end of the matter. We can make a lifelong commitment. We can say, ‘I surrender all” and mean every Word of it. However, to put this commitment into practice, to actualize it, to make it real in concrete situations is a continuous, lifetime affair. Again and again, in each new crisis, we have to say, ‘Not my will, but Yours be done,’ and this is where the growing process takes place. We become stronger in our commitment; we become more sensitive to His leadings as we become more mature in our spiritual lives.

Thought for the day: Surrender is more than a definite act; it is a daily attitude as well.

J.T. Seamands