Each to Guard Against His Own Temptations
H. W. Beecher. Mark 14:38 Watch you and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. Your excess of disposition, your strength of passion, and your temptableness are not the same as your neighbour's. Therefore it is quite foolish for you to watch as your neighbour watches. Every man must set his watch according to his own disposition, and know his own disposition better than anybody else knows it. If a fort is situated so that the weakest side is on the east, the commander, if he is wise, will set his watch there. He says, "I believe that if I defend this point, nothing can do me any harm," and sets his watch there. But suppose the commander of a fort, whose weak place was on the west side, should put his force all on the other side! If he would defend his fort successfully, he should put his soldiers where it is weak. Here is a man who watches against pride; but your temptation is on the side of vanity. It will not do for you to watch against pride, because pride is not your besetting sin. There is many a man who flatters himself, that because his neighbour has corrected his faults by gaining a victory over pride, all he himself needs to do is to gain a victory over pride. He has no difficulty in that, because he is not tempted in his pride. It is very easy to watch against an enemy that does not exist. It is very easy to gain a victory where there is no adversary. (H. W. Beecher.) 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."