- Joined
- Oct 26, 2007
- Messages
- 12,539
Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak." Mark 14:38 NLT
Have you read some of the literature on how to deal with people who disappoint you?
If you have, Jesus’ example in today’s reading will startle you. He rejects contemporary wisdom and replaces it with the ancient wisdom of Solomon.
When Solomon’s wife disappoints him by hiding from him emotionally and physically, he asks her to let him see her “face” and hear her “voice,” since both are beautiful to him. He ends his confrontation by reminding her that despite hiding her heart, their relationship is still “in bloom” (Song of Songs 2:15). Solomon doesn’t crush her spirit or her efforts to improve. He comforts her with a reminder of how much their relationship means to him.
Jesus follows the same pattern when His disciples disappoint Him. After He asks them to pray through His hours of agony, they let Him down by falling asleep. Instead of responding to the disappointment in the two most typical ways—avoidance or condemnation—Jesus ministers, like Solomon, to their needs. He reminds them not only that their “body is weak” but that their “spirit is willing.” The appreciative part, “your spirit is willing,” promotes hope and encourages the desired improvement.
If someone disappoints you today, do more than point out how that person has let you down—let that person know you appreciate the willing spirit.
Prayer: Father, when someone lets me down, help me build them up the way Jesus build up His disciples when they failed Him.
Have you read some of the literature on how to deal with people who disappoint you?
If you have, Jesus’ example in today’s reading will startle you. He rejects contemporary wisdom and replaces it with the ancient wisdom of Solomon.
When Solomon’s wife disappoints him by hiding from him emotionally and physically, he asks her to let him see her “face” and hear her “voice,” since both are beautiful to him. He ends his confrontation by reminding her that despite hiding her heart, their relationship is still “in bloom” (Song of Songs 2:15). Solomon doesn’t crush her spirit or her efforts to improve. He comforts her with a reminder of how much their relationship means to him.
Jesus follows the same pattern when His disciples disappoint Him. After He asks them to pray through His hours of agony, they let Him down by falling asleep. Instead of responding to the disappointment in the two most typical ways—avoidance or condemnation—Jesus ministers, like Solomon, to their needs. He reminds them not only that their “body is weak” but that their “spirit is willing.” The appreciative part, “your spirit is willing,” promotes hope and encourages the desired improvement.
If someone disappoints you today, do more than point out how that person has let you down—let that person know you appreciate the willing spirit.
Prayer: Father, when someone lets me down, help me build them up the way Jesus build up His disciples when they failed Him.
