MATTHEW 26:26-35 – “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.  Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same.”

THEME OF THE DAY: THE DANGER OF SPIRITUAL IMPULSIVENESS.   If we are tempted to be a little hard on Peter and the disciples about their emotional and impulsive spiritual commitments to never deny Jesus, defeat that temptation.  They had just observed the Lord’s Supper with the Lord Himself and then went out and worshipped with a hymn.  We can imagine the “spiritual mountaintop experience” of all those wonderful times with Jesus.  We know them too.  It might have been at a moving concert, an impactful conference, read an illuminating book, or even attended an excellent worship service in our churches.  God gives us such experiences, and with the blessing of such, there is a warning; a warning Peter and the disciples failed to heed – the danger of spiritual impulsiveness.

Take a moment and read again what happened after the disciples’ worship service; the singing of the hymn.  Jesus interrupts the “spiritual mountain experience” and tells His men, “You will all fall away because of Me this night.”  He didn’t address this to some of them, but all of them, yes, even the leader Peter.  What did they do?  Well, let’s identify two things they didn’t do which set them up for the failure of what they did do.

First, they forgot who was speaking.  The God who cannot lie told them a painful truth. They were all going to desert Him. They didn’t listen.  And that can easily happen when we are experiencing emotional and spiritual highs about the Lord.  Emotions rule, not reason, not spiritual reason.  Jesus was speaking. They didn’t listen. We need to listen. He is speaking truth to them and us.

The next thing they didn’t do was pause and think long and hard about what He said.  This would have brought them down to earth so to speak and realize how weak they are when it comes to commitment to Jesus.  This is a valuable lesson for us.  Ponder the words of the Lord. Don’t be in a hurry in His Word. Let Him show us how weak we are and thus how dependent on His strengthening grace – all the time.

Now here is what they did do, and it wasn’t good. They made hasty, not thought-out, bold, and consequential commitments to Jesus.  They all basically proclaimed, “Not true, Lord. We will never deny You or leave You.”  And we know what happened. The pain of remorse and regret would have been great when they did exactly what Jesus told them they would do.

Application?  Make commitments to the Lord we must, but make them prayerfully, thought-out, according to scripture, and never impulsive out of emotions and circumstances.   We will save ourselves the pain of regret and need for repentance if we do these actions when making commitments to the Lord.

PRAYER: Father, forgive me for those times I make impulsive spiritual decisions, not well thought-out ones

REFLECTION: Be thoughtful and prayerful when making spiritual decisions not emotional and impulsive.