Learning to do what the disciples should have done.
by Sarah Schwerin
My high school English teacher stood behind his desk, his steely gray eyes surveying the class. “All truth is relative,” he said. “There is no right or wrong.”
As usual, most of the students nodded their heads and stared in rapt attention as he spoke. Yet the Holy Spirit urged me to disagree. My palms sweated, and I felt nauseous. How could I argue with a teacher everyone loved and respected? How could I stand up for my faith to someone who didn’t believe what I believed?
Although no longer a shy teenager, I still encounter others who disagree with my beliefs. Nervousness flutters in my stomach when the Holy Spirit urges me to defend my faith.
We are surrounded by those who disagree with our faith and do not understand our beliefs and values. How are we to act in a world that is hostile to all the Bible teaches?
Fortunately, the Bible has a lot to say about how we should behave when we face opposition and trials. Before Jesus endured His greatest trial, He took the disciples to a garden. He urged the three in His inner circle to remain, watch, and pray.
Remain
In Greek, remain means abide and is the same word used in John 15:10: “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”
In the garden, Jesus urged His friends to remain, to abide, to keep dwelling in His word and love. As Jesus prepared to suffer and die on the cross, the disciples would need to cling to His love and teachings. It would be their only way to survive the heartache and persecution to follow.
When we study God’s Word and meditate on it daily, God transforms us and gives us what we need to face the trials and opposition in our lives. He promises to equip us to do everything He has called us to do — to even stand up to those who oppose us and His truth.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16, 17).
We will discover that God’s Word provides a plan to deal with any situation or person in our lives — if we remain in it.
Watch
Next, Jesus asked His followers to keep watch, which in the Greek means to keep awake and be vigilant. In the garden, Peter, James, and John did the exact opposite. They fell asleep.
Amid trials, we also might be tempted to figuratively fall asleep. We might relax our boundaries and stop doing what we know we should be doing. God isn’t watching us right now, is He? Do I really have to be kind to others? Do I need to follow all the commandments? Did God really say to do that?
We know Peter learned a lesson in the garden. He warns us, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
We have an enemy who wants to destroy us and make our witness ineffective. That’s why we must be watchful and hold fast to our standards. Watching is not passive but active. The next verse in 1 Peter 5 instructs us on how to do this: “Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world” (v. 9).
Pray
Even though Jesus was in agony (Luke 22:44), He encouraged His followers to pray with Him. The Greek word for pray means to pray to God, to supplicate, to worship. Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus stressed the importance of prayer and showed His followers how to pray. Just as Jesus needed to talk to His heavenly Father in the garden, so He knew His disciples needed to talk to God, especially when they faced opposition.
Jesus also knew that, like the disciples, we are weak. In prayer, we communicate with God, and He strengthens us. On our own, we cannot face opposition, but through prayer, God enables us to do amazing things, just as the disciples eventually did.
Following God’s way
The disciples messed up in the garden. They didn’t remain, watch, or pray. Yet Jesus still died and came back to life for them. And somewhere along the way, Peter, James, and John woke up and learned what God was teaching them.
Even though they faced persecution for their beliefs, the disciples patiently continued following God. Peter and James were killed for their faith. John was exiled. All three followed Jesus’ example and left a legacy of how to face opposition.
Be encouraged. You aren’t the only Christian standing up for your beliefs. Keep choosing God’s way, no matter what trials you are going through or how you might feel. Our feelings don’t always tell the whole truth, but God and His Word always do.
As a teenager, I followed God’s leading and spoke out in defense of my faith. I told the teacher I didn’t agree with him. He nodded, and the class went on as normal. Nothing seemed different, and no one seemed to notice what I’d said. I don’t know if my words had any effect on the teacher or on my classmates. Yet I learned that it isn’t our job to change hearts. Our job is to do what Jesus asked the disciples to do: remain, watch, and pray. God is the one who changes hearts. We need only to follow.
