Battle of Wills

Last night we had a battle of wills at our house.  I have decided that we will start to eat healthier at our house.  With that resolution in mind, I bought kale and baked it up to make chips.  (They were surprisingly good!)  My 3 year old looked at them and decided that she was not going to eat them.  They do look a little weird, but ultimately taste a lot like potato chips.  So my daughter ate her tuna fish sandwich and then said she was all done.  We informed her that she had to try two bits of the kale chips.  Two hours later, she was still sitting crying at the table.  She did NOT want to eat them, refused to try them and is a very strong willed child, so decided that she was not going to give in AT ALL. 

All she had to do was eat two little pieces of kale (it sounds gross but it really isn’t) and she could get down and play and have a snack later etc… How often do we do that?  How often do we sit and throw a HUGE fit insisting that our way is the BEST and only way.  How often does our will get in the way of our life?  How often does our will get into the way of GOD’s will? 

How easy would it have been for Jesus to get off the cross?  How easy would it have been for Jesus to speak and get down from the cross?  He couldn’t have actually wanted to go up on the cross.  He couldn’t have woken up one day and said, “hey, I feel like dying today, what is the most vicious and terrible way for me to die?”  I highly doubt that Jesus was gladly looking forward to the day that he was to be crucified, but he still did it.  He still made way for God’s will and saved the world through that. 

In Luke 22, it says that he told the disciples to pray to not enter into temptation.  His sweat became like drops of blood.  Being in agony he was praying.  But the prayer that is documented, the prayer that stuck out in this whole time of prayer is found in verse 42: “saying, ‘Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.’ ”

He didn’t have to worry about what was for dinner, he was worrying about dying.  That is right – He was giving up His life for our sins, yet He still went with God’s will.  How often do I decide that I want a little thing and throw a fit.  I refuse to budge, but then God can’t work in my life during that time.  He can’t have His will- His will is being halted because I am being selfish.  New goal for me: be less selfish in my life.  Be more intentional about  God.