Being the bearer of bad news is never a thing I enjoy.  My emotional wiring tends to go against that desire.  Some people seem to relish being negative beyond reason.  Some of my early sermons did take a negative tact when it came to making my point.  Intentionally working at the positive was the only way out of that tendency.  All of this is to say that this morning was not something to look forward to saying.  But there are times when scripture moves past the casual into confronting us about our lives.  Sometimes you read accounts of people in the Bible that remind you of the dangers in being a disciple.  What happens to Jesus in the garden prior to the cross is one of those moments.

Suffering is unique to those who are believers.  Everyone has problems but the follower of Jesus knows what it is to move past the comfortable when God is involved.  Jesus will suffer greatly while laboring in those hours before His death.  This was more than having a problem of whatever nature.  He is facing off with God to determine how life would be lived.  Max Lucado would write that the conflict of the cross begins in the garden during that prayer.  He also says the battle was won in Jesus being obedient to the Father.  Suffering is the process of God taking our conditions to sift our heart into His likeness.  This is never easy, comfortable or superficial.  It is the stuff that moves us from being complacent to having real depth in our faith.  

We get sold a bill of goods that says our religion should always make us happy.  Somewhere along the line we forgot that Jesus says to pray for God's will to be done.  Fear sets in when we imagine this may mean giving up physical stuff we enjoy.  Courageously praying such a prayer is less about our things and more about our heart.  Believers tend to bail out before reaching such a point of obedience.  Moving fast toward the comfortable replaces staying with God to see what He has in store.  We end up with people who settle for playing church rather than maturing into God's fullness.  Some of these individuals may even end up in leadership roles.  The sad truth is they will never be able to lead others further than where they go with God.

Now you can see why talking about such a significant event in the life of Jesus can be a challenge.  It just hits us between the eyes on where we are with Him.  It reminds us of the costs of being serious about following Jesus.  But there is the promise through all of this that we know God with a depth never known before.  Suffering is not for the weak of heart to be sure.  But it seems to me better than not growing a relationship with God that lasts through the hardest of times.  

Bro. Trey