Growing up in southern Indiana in the 1950s, I would hear my older friends and relatives sigh, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”. I’m not sure they even knew they were quoting Jesus (Matthew 26:41 KJV). It was simply a truth they encountered as their bodies got older and weaker.
After their Passover dinner, the disciples followed Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane for prayer. He knew it was nearly time for him to suffer and die an excruciating death on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of the world and he also knew his disciples were about to face the greatest challenge to their faith in him. He told them to watch and pray, while he went off to pray privately. When he returned, the meal they had just consumed and the night air had them all sound asleep. Jesus woke them and told them, “Keep watch and pray so that you don’t give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing but the body is weak!”
My spirit was very willing as I rushed forward and knelt at that church altar those many years ago. It has remained willing to serve God all of these years, but as he warned his disciples, my body has led me into temptation more times than I want to count. I am so thankful that he has always been there to wake me from my slumber and put my willing spirit back on the path to following him.
Now that I’m old and dealing with physical limitations, I know exactly what my friends and relatives meant back then. Unlike our body, our spirit doesn’t age. I still have that young, willing spirit within me that was there when I took those first bold, eager strides at the beginning of my journey with the Holy Spirit. There are so many things my spirit still longs to do, but my body taunts me and says, “Dream on old fella those days are long gone”. It is so frustrating at times, but I am not complaining because the Holy Spirit has redirected my spiritual energy now to different means for me to serve and encourage others. In some ways, I am more blessed now than ever before. When your wiling spirit is teamed up with God’s Holy Spirit within you, all things are possible and there will always be opportunities to be useful to God in spite of physical limitations. God is good – all the time!