“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Matthew 26:39b
This simple statement — yet difficult mission — was the life and the food of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. We who are firmly grounded in this truth believe that this, as it was for Jesus, is our faith through tough times of doubt, our perseverance through life’s most grieving trials, and it is our ultimate hope in trying times.
When Jesus gathered with His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, He, in just a few hours, would drink of the cup, bearing our sins on the cross. His strength and purpose was totally wrapped inside of this life driving mission statement, “THY WILL BE DONE.”
He prayed this, believed this, desired this, lived this and died upon this sole purpose.
Near the end of the fulfillment of His life’s purpose we read in Matthew’s Gospel “… My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” This is the most powerful thing we can desire, and it is totally opposite of a self-focused life. So I pray even as I write “that we all may be conformed to Christ in this way.”
There are many encouraging ways this prayer breeds hope for us as we strive in the Spirit during these trying times to live a life for God, and not ourselves. And it starts with one of the hardest things for us to do, to lay down ourselves. This global pandemic is no joke! All are encouraged to practice social distancing and to stay home. In other words, we are being challenged to lay down our fleshly desires, and learn to pray and believe that God’s will indeed — BE done.
This must include everything Jesus did that goes against — our (American) culture, our fleshly desires, and at the base of it all, our self-centered pridefulness. When we pray, “your will be done,” we are fighting against these fleshly desires. In a nutshell, we are crying out to God and praying: “No matter the outcome, trials, afflictions along the way, doubts, the long period of waiting, or even the loss of good things — we will follow You, dear God.”
We know as children of God that this hope will not fail us. Therefore, when we feel like we can’t pray, read the Word, or love like we should because everything feels too heavy to carry, prayers aren’t being answered or doubts are flooding in — take it to God! Cry out to God and emerge yourself in the Word, knowing that God will never leave us or forsake us. By standing on the Spirit led desire of “Your Will Be Done” will bring us through whatever we are experiencing.
So in everything we go through, it is miniscule in comparison to the cross. Let us trust in our God and press on toward the prize — while continually uttering, “THY WILL BE DONE!”
Rev. Marion J. Miller is senior pastor of Wesley United Methodist Church, Jeffersonville. Contact her at 812-283-3747 or wesley1201@sbcglobal.net.
