Then Jesus returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. (Matthew 26:40)
Every wonder why Jesus continued taking His disciples everywhere He went after they continued failing Him over and over again. Here, in one of His darkest hours, Jesus brought His disciples into the Garden of Gethsemane and said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me” (Matthew 26:38). And when He returns from His time of prayer, His disciples were not watching, they were sleeping.
I don’t think the importance of this story can be overstated when we take an honest look at ourselves and see just how often we too, fail our Lord in countless ways. If all we had was the testimony of devoted disciples who were always on their “A” game in serving the Lord, it could be a bit discouraging. But the Bible tells us the truth about the frailty and failures of those who spent the most time with Jesus during His earthly ministry to encourage us when we find ourselves falling short in of service to Jesus.
What we need to remember is this – failure isn’t final unless we fail to get up. Remember, when Jesus returned to find His disciples sleeping, they did wake up and they did get up. They continued following their Lord imperfectly, and in a few hours, would scatter to the four winds in fear of their lives. Failure did not disqualify the disciples from serving their Lord and it does not disqualify us either. We all fail. We all fall short of God’s intended mark for our lives. But that’s ok. God knew we would fail and fall short. He does not give up on us. He simply keeps encouraging us to get back up begin again.
Remember, regardless of where this finds you, Jesus has called you to serve Him to the best of your ability. He already knows you will do it imperfectly. He already knows you will fall short. He already knows you will fail time and time again. In knowing this you know all you need to know to keep getting back up every time you fall. Oh, one final point. With Jesus leading the way in your life, every time you fall, you fall forward.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 