Passage Read: Mark 13-14
Meditation Verse: 14:38
Thought
I often thing how much easier it would be to die for Jesus than to live for Him. But even dying for Jesus is no easy thing. Peter and the rest of the Apostles knew Him well. They'd seen His miraculous powers; they were convinced that He was the Messiah. But when He was arrested, though every one agreed they would die with Jesus, yet they all fled. One of them was even the betrayer! Peter went on to deny knowing Him three times, exactly as Jesus said he would. As well as they knew and believed in Jesus, it wasn't enough. They still needed to watch and pray, to be on the alert and to pray for strength to stand firm.
Application
Standing firm is easy when there is no challenge or threat, but when threat comes, will I stand? If I can't walk faithfully with Him when there is no threat to my life, why do I think I will hold fast to Him when I face death for His sake? Am I willing to die for Him today? It should show in my choices, my actions and my words. If I'm not dying daily, why do I think I'll choose to die with Him when the evil day comes? I shouldn't be so confident. Rather, I should continually keep watch and understand the times. I should continually pray that I would be faithful to die to myself and live for Him today and everyday, and I should daily choose to live in His ways and do His will, so that when the evil day comes, it's no different than any other day before it.