Stay Awake!

<p>A German bank employee was in the middle of transferring 62.40 euros from a customer&rsquo;s bank account when he accidentally took a power nap at his desk. He dozed off while his finger was on the "2" key, resulting in a 222 million euro (300 million dollars) transfer into the customer&rsquo;s account. The fallout from the mistake included the firing of the employee&rsquo;s colleague who verified the transfer. Although the mistake was caught and corrected, because he wasn&rsquo;t watchful, the sleepy employee&rsquo;s lapse almost became a nightmare for the bank.</p> <p>Jesus warned His disciples that if they didn&rsquo;t remain alert, they, too, would make a costly mistake. He took them to a place called Gethsemane to spend some time in prayer. As He prayed, Jesus experienced a grief and sadness such as He&rsquo;d never known in His earthly life. He asked Peter, James and John to stay awake to pray and &ldquo;keep watch&rdquo; with Him (Matthew 26:38), but they fell asleep (vv. 40&ndash;41). Their failure to watch and pray would leave them defenseless when the real temptation of denying Him came calling. In the hour of Jesus&rsquo; greatest need, the disciples lacked spiritual vigilance.</p> <p>May we heed Jesus&rsquo; words to remain spiritually awake by being more devoted to spending time with Him in prayer. As we do, He&rsquo;ll strengthen us to resist all kinds of temptations and avoid the costly mistake of denying Jesus.</p>