Creatures of Habit

“Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Mark 14:37, 38.

I had to go to the bank yesterday. For me to get to the bank, I have to cross the Bong Bridge. For those of you that are familiar with this bridge in Superior, when you cross over into Minnesota you have two options: You can go straight and get into town, or you can take an exit that connects you to I-35.

Now for me, when I go on this bridge I take the exit to get onto the highway in most cases. But for me to get to the bank, I need to go straight into town. This bridge is more than 2 miles long. So as I am driving over the bridge I got distracted with certain thoughts and soon I realized that I was taking the exit to I-35 when I should have been going straight! My body just reacted without thinking due to my habit. I had to detour to get to my destination. I am sure many of you had a similar experience.

Men are creatures of habit. We tend to do what we are used to doing or it’s very easy for us to follow what is more comfortable. Just before Jesus was crucified, Jesus was praying. And 3 disciples of Jesus were with him. Jesus asked them to pray with Him (according to Luke). But the disciples fell asleep. They were tired. And perhaps, what if they didn’t create the habit of praying? Or what if their habit was to just sleep when they were tired even in times of prayer? When we don’t stay awake spiritually it is very easy for us to follow the sinful habits of life and then we would have to take a long detour to get to the destination. At worst you might even never come back. We need to stay awake. We need to pray.