Not My Will, But Yours

In the Garden of Gethsemane (which means "oil press"), prior to His trial and crucifixion, Jesus prayed (Luke 22:42, NKJV), "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done."

Jesus' prayer, uttered as "His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22:44, NKJV), was one filled with anguish and obedience. That is what total submission to God's will is all about.

Elisabeth Elliot has observed, "I realized that the deepest spiritual lessons are not learned by His letting us have our way in the end, but by His making us wait, bearing with us in love and patience, until we are able to honestly pray what He taught His disciples to pray: 'Thy will be done.'"

Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "Thy will be done", and then He prayed it Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane.

We, too, must pray, "Thy will be done", but it can be very difficult for us to do at times, because our fleshly nature frequently wars against it. Oftentimes our fleshly nature tries to convince us that our will should trump God's in our lives, and that we know better than Him concerning what is good, right, and spiritually edifying for us.

But we must follow Jesus' example. Jesus deliberately subjugated His human will to God's perfect will, even though Jesus also knew and also understood the enormous pain, suffering, and sacrifice on the cross that would be a part of it.

But it made all the difference.

The next time that you are tempted to think that your own personal will should trump God's in your life, think of Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, and how He subjugated His own will to God's, and how His subjugation of His will, and His sacrifice on the cross, made eternal life possible for you and for me.