Today’s devotion is taken from Luke 21:29-38
From these passages, Jesus told his disciples to
observe the signs of times of when the Kingdom of God might come. First note
that Jesus was not speaking to Jewish leaders or believers who have fallen into
sin but he was speaking to the disciples. He was speaking to Peter, James and
John and the rest of the disciples. He was speaking to believers who had given
up their lives to follow Christ. Yet, Jesus warns them to be careful or their
hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of
life (V.34).
This is warning us not to be overpowered by
temptations and not to be complacent. Jesus says “Be always on the watch”.
Here, Jesus reminds Christians that they need to live in the light of the fact
that the Lord could come at any moment and we need to be always on guard and be
alert. Due to our sinful nature, we have
temptations to sin. The Apostle Paul puts it clearly in Romans 7:14-25 where
Paul recognizes the struggle between our sinful nature and God’s law in his
heart.
We need to exercise spiritual humility and always
rely on Jesus for strength to flee from temptations. Always keep Jesus as your
focus for he is faithful and will provide you a means of escape when temptation
comes (1 Corinthians 10:13). We should continuously abide in Him for whoever
abides in Him does not sin.
We are asked to pray always (v.36). We recall when Jesus prayed in the garden of
Gethsemane and he told his disciples —
not once but twice (Luke 22:40, 46) — to
pray against temptation. Their temptation was to succumb to physical sleep and
fail in their responsibility to support Jesus. Jesus said the spirit is willing
but the flesh is weak. When we pray, we acknowledge our weakness and come from
a posture of humility. We come before God and rely on his supernatural strength
to avoid and overcome temptation.
Self reflection: How can I be more faithful to the
truth of today’s devotion? Are we at a place of spiritual humility to realise
we need God’s strength to overcome every temptation?
Prayer: Dear Jesus, thank you for Your sacrifice on
the cross, which paid the penalty for my sin. We come humbly before you to
acknowledge that we need the power of the Holy Spirit to strengthen us. O Lord,
we pray for a way to escape whatever temptations we are facing, be it
financially, sexually, addiction or relational, give us the strength to escape
and direct us to the right path.