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Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

(Matthew 26:41)

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One of the most important things we should do as believers is to keep watch over our lives and doctrine.

Our flesh, cursed by Adam’s sin and our own, is constantly driving us toward idolatry and injustice. All too often we think of temptation as something that comes primarily from external sources, but the truth is that we are tempted in our flesh far more consistently than we are tempted by anyone or anything else. In short, we don’t need the devil to make us do it. Instead we, like Paul, have a constant battle within ourselves between honoring God or submitting to the flesh. 

This week, we read of the final days of the life of Jesus. As he is facing His death, He goes to the Garden to pray. The disciples, the same men who had given full-throated commitments to follow Jesus anywhere just a few hours earlier couldn’t even stay awake to pray. In a picture of the betrayal to come, the disciples fell asleep multiple times - signaling their imminent fall into temptation.

Jesus, ever loving, is patient with them. And He is patient with us. But we shouldn’t mistake His patience with acceptance of our sin. We must watch and pray that we do not enter into temptation, because Christ ultimately will deliver us from these bodies of death. 

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