The Need for Watchfulness
Anon. Mark 14:38 Watch you and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. It seems as though there were no word so far reaching as the word "watch." Vigilance is the price of everything good and great in earth or heaven. It was for his faithful vigilance that the memory of the Pompeian sentinel is embalmed in poetry and recorded in history. Nothing but unceasing watchfulness can keep the heart in harmony with God's heart. It was a stormy, boisterous night. The dark clouds hung over us, and the wind came with tenfold fury. The sea roiled in mountains, and the proud ship seemed but a toy amid those tremendous billows. Far up on the mast, on the look out, the sailor was heard to cry, "An iceberg on the starboard bow." "An iceberg on the larboard bow!" The deck officer called to the helmsman, "Port the helm steadily!" and the sailors at the wheel heard and obeyed. The officers were aroused, for there was danger on board to three hundred precious souls. The captain spent a sleepless night, pacing the deck or cabin. Gigantic icebergs were coming against the vessel, and eternal vigilance was the price of our safety in that northern sea. And so it is all through human life. (Anon.) Parallel Verses KJV: Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. WEB: Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."