Your will, not mine
Maundy Thursday. Jesus is betrayed, arrested, beaten. But before that. Before the cross. Before the stone rolled away.
Jesus fell to the ground in a garden called Gethsemane and begged: "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me." (Luke 22:42)
He's in agony. His sweat is turning to blood. He's asking God to remove the coming torture from His life. He's saying, "I don't like what You're giving me to drink!"
Have you ever said that to God?
That you didn't like what He was giving you? That you wanted Him to take something away?
Of course you have. This part of Jesus' prayer is something we've all prayed before (albeit in much less agony).
It's the second part of His prayer that is often nowhere in our hearts: "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done." (Luke 22:42)
Your will, not mine.
In suffering...Your will, not mine.
When things aren't going right...Your will, not mine.
When I don't get the job...Your will, not mine.
When my kid is going through a hard time...Your will, not mine.
When God is asking me to give up comfort and convenience...Your will, not mine!
Isn’t this the whole battle? The whole living-for-Jesus thing? Choosing His will over ours – because we trust Him. But the point is...we can't.
Jesus could, but we can't.
I wouldn't have made it past Gethsemane. I would've bailed. I would've crumbled under the weight of it all. I would've chosen my own will over God's.
We needed Jesus to do it because we couldn't, right?
That's the beauty and importance of Easter. Don't miss it: Maundy Thursday turned to Good Friday and eventually became Resurrection Sunday. God did the work.
We didn't raise Jesus from the dead. God did.
So maybe you're in a time of second-guessing, worrying, waiting... Maybe your will and God's will aren't lining up. Maybe you're in agony and you're thinking "how am I going to do this?"
The answer is you're not. You can't. But Christ can.
This Easter, ask Him to give you the trust you need to make it from Maundy Thursday to Resurrection Sunday. Don’t rely on your willpower. Rely on resurrection power. He did it because we couldn’t. And He still does.