Life is like preparing for surgery

Mark 14:34-38  “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them.  “Stay here and keep watch.” …..then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping.  “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep?  Could you not keep watch for one hour?  Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing but the body is weak.” Once more he went away and prayed the same thing.  When he came back he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy.  They did not know what to say to him.

I’m preparing for shoulder surgery this week.  When you put a combination of too many curve balls playing baseball as a youth and in college, combined with too much racquetball as an adult, then add the age factor, things happen.

I’ve been through my share of surgeries.  As a toddler I had surgery to repair a hernia. I have had knee surgery in Jr. High from a football injury.  I had ankle surgery in college from a water skiing injury.  Five years ago had surgery on my back due to a snow skiing accident.  I also had brain surgery.  Well, OK it wasn’t actually brain surgery.  It was close though.  I had surgery on my nasal passages, but I could swear that during that particular surgery, they sucked out some of my brain.  I base this conclusion on some pretty dumb decisions I made in my life afterward.  The point is I’ve had surgeries and know the prep procedure pretty well.

I find it funny that every time I’ve faced a surgery the same thing seems to happen to me without fail.  In preparation for surgery the night before, you are told not to drink or eat anything after midnight until after your surgery.  The day of surgery no water or food from the time you get up to until after surgery is over. This is to protect you from complications that could arise with the anesthesia they use to put you to sleep.

Now, I’ve gone many a day in my life without eating or drinking between midnight and in some cases most of the next day with no problem.  You get busy and it just happens.  It is no big deal, totally unplanned, right?

Why is it then that when you are told you can’t do something it becomes a struggle for you?  So with every surgery I’ve had, without fail, the day of my surgery, when I wake up I’m dying of thirst and hunger.  I know it sounds silly but is a very real thing and I know we all have faced similar things in our lives.

One of the best ways to bring temptation in our lives is to be told we can’t do something. We have all missed meals before right?  But take a day to fast and pray for something really important to you, what happens?  When that next meal time comes around you are starving.  Right? You can’t get it off your mind.

I remember my senior year in high school.  Our Senior Mission trip in our church was to go on a mission trip to Guatemala.  In preparation for that trip, the group of seniors that were going all committed to fasting for two days something that was important to us materially.  Me being the dedicated person I was decided to give up a daily fix of something like snacks between meals.  I know, I was putting it out there wasn’t I? I had it all planned.  I could just make sure I ate full solid meals and I’d be OK.  But for some reason the thought of not being able to have a snack between meals drove me nuts for those two days.  It was crazy how the mind was playing games with me.  What a lesson.

We are like the disciples in Mark 14.  Jesus says, stay awake and pray, keep watch.  Immediately the sleep button is flipped on inside our brains and the next thing you know we are sawing logs.

Temptation is a sneaky thing.  It seems like the more we can’t have something that we really want the more we desire it.  The more we focus on how we cannot have that thing which we want, the more the desire to have it builds.  Once we give into it, its control over us becomes like a vice grip in our lives.  Each time we give in it gets easier the next time, not realizing that each time we do, the vice grip just gets a little tighter.  Before long we are trapped in its grip to where it has total control over us.

I find it interesting in this passage, Jesus was like a red flag for the disciples.  Warning them of the coming temptations.  As we read further on in Mark we begin to see that Jesus asking them to keep watch wasn’t so much about the guards who were about to come upon them, but more about the coming temptations they were about to face after he was captured.  He was warning them to keep watch for the rest of that evening and the days that followed.

We are given similar warning signs when faced with temptations.  The problem is we often do not see or understand them just like the disciples didn’t understand Jesus warnings.  That gut feeling we have inside but ignore.  Someone who loves us warning us of an impending decision we are about to make.   The question is whether or not we see these red flags for what they really are and take action on them.  The disciples didn’t see this.  Peter within hours of this event gave into one of the toughest of all temptations.  Denying he knew Jesus.

The important thing to remember about temptation is that in most cases, even for those that face addictions of some form, it all started with that little simple seed of thought we let take hold in our minds.  “You know this is not good for you but you really want it right?  But you can’t have it can you?” It is at that point that the real battle begins.  How big the battle gets is dependent upon what we do with that thought.  If we give in and give it more attention, the intensity of the battle grows.  Do we let it come in and take hold.  Do we take it captive and align it up against Gods will for us and focus on Him and walk away.  The choice is ours.  The deeper we look and consider the temptation the tougher the battle gets.

Sometimes for me it helps to see temptations not just as temptations but as red flags of choice.  The red flag image is like a stop sign.  Stop and think about what is going on first before moving forward.

So life is like my preparing for this surgery.  I know it is just a simple thing, my wrestling with wanting to eat or drink that morning of my surgery.  As I’ve mentioned, if you give into those temptations, it could lead to complications during surgery that could lead to life or death.  So I take it seriously.  I wonder why I don’t take the temptations in my life spiritually as seriously?  After all it is not just my physical health that is affected, but my spiritual and eternal health as well.  How I choose to handle them is up to me.  The choice is mine.