The Spirit is Willing but the Flesh is Weak

Have you ever wondered why you are nicer to your co-workers than you are to your spouse? What about how you extend so much grace to the family behind you at church rather than your children? Maybe it’s because we care too much about what people think of us. We certainly don’t want our co-workers, or fellow churchgoers to know what we are really like. How quickly I can lose my temper, or how judgmental I am deep down. You would think that the person who we love most in this world, we would want to treat the most loving, but that is not normally what happens. If you are beating yourself up right now, don’t. Humans have had this problem since the beginning of time. Leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion he asked His disciples to pray, He was about to be put on trial and murdered, but what did the disciples do? They continually fall asleep. Really, who could sleep at a time like this? Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:40-41. In our human-ness, we are so weak and frail. It literally doesn’t take more than 24 hours without food, water, or sleep for people to completely unravel. This is why we need Jesus because, without Him, we can do nothing on our own.

Even Paul, as wonderful as he was after his conversion, still struggled with his sinful nature. He says in Romans 7:18-19 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. We, just like Paul are in a constant state of rebellion against God. We are proud, selfish, and self-exhaulting, and that’s on a good day. So how do we handle this kind of rebellion? Just like Paul, we take full acceptance of our sinfulness and maybe even declare ourselves to be the worst. Then our problem is no longer our spouse, but us. When you think of yourself as the worst of sinners, you now lean towards extending huge amounts of grace to your spouse for having to put up with you. We start extending grace the way Jesus does. When we put ourselves in last place, everyone else becomes more important to us than us. Matthew 20:16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” So put yourself last today and see what God does with your heart.