In the Garden With Jesus - a Lent Journey for TeensSample

Jesus’ life of surrender

When Jesus prays in Gethsemane, “Take this cup from me,” He is communicating His love to the Father. He communicates enough trust that He can say what He’s thinking, openly and honestly. When we grow in our love for the Lord, it means we can be completely honest with Him; we can say what’s on our hearts and minds, no matter how painful those remarks may be.

We can learn how to do this from the Psalm writers. Jesus also followed their example when He called out on the cross, the first line of Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He knows that the Psalm continues: “Forhe has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.” (Psalm 22:24) The honest cry, the deep feeling of abandonment, is the not the end of the Psalm, or of the story, or of the Good News.

Surrender, even a small surrender – like an honest conversation with Him – is a decision to grow in our love for the Lord. And it’s not something we do on our own. It’s cooperation with the power of the Lord.

Maybe, like Jesus in Gethsemane, you want to “withdraw about a stone's throw beyond them, kneel down and pray, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours.”

Prayer:

I ask for a deep consciousness of Your love and work in my life.