Drinking From The Cup Of Stillness

I'm a fighter.  I'm a doer.  I'm a problem-solver and a victim-saver.  I'm a protector and a defender.  Fight or flight, you ask?  I'll answer with a sword slicing off your ear.  We give Peter a lot of grief for abandoning Jesus on the night of His trial, but we too soon forget that it was only Peter who defended Jesus when the mob came to the Garden of Gethsamane.  A mob of men had come to harm Peter's best friend, teacher, and Savior, and Peter's natural, initial response was to pull out a sword and start swinging.  We should remember that Peter's initial reaction was to defend Jesus, not to abandon Him.

But Jesus didn't ask Peter to defend Him, He asked Peter to be still.  Peter's focus was supposed to be on Christ, not on the danger.  When we focus on the danger, our vision and purpose become blurred and we come out swinging when Christ would prefer us to be still and drink the cup.  This is because God saves us whether we are fighting or standing still.  And sometimes He waits until we are still.  There is a time to swing a sword and there is a time to keep it in the sheath, and we can only discern the difference if we have first sat in stillness with our eyes on Christ. 

Sitting and drinking the cup of stillness requires faith.  The more Christ wants to instill faith in you, the longer He will allow you to remain in situations in which the answers to what you seek require stillness.  Sitting in stillness is agonizing to a fighter.  It is agonizing to a worrier.  It is agonizing to those with a busy mind and even busier hands.  It is contrary to every inclination of our flesh.  Which is exactly the point.  To grow in the Spirit, the flesh must die.  They are contrary to one another, therefore growth in one means the demise of the other. 

There is an old Native American folktale about two wolves that reside in each person-- one good and one bad.  One day a child who discerns this struggle within himself asks an elder, "Which one will win?"  And the elder replies, "Whichever one you feed."  We either grow in the flesh by feeding fleshly desires, or we grow in the Spirit by submitting to it in obedience and faith.  But we cannot have both.

"...Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus, and arrested Him. At this, one of Jesus' companions drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear..... 'Put your sword back in its sheath!' Jesus said to Peter. 'Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given Me?'" (Matt 26:50,51; John 18:11)

"Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation-- but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.  For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God." (Rom 8:12-14)

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Gal 2:20)

"You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is indeed dead on account of sin, yet the Spirit gives you life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, He Who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, Who dwells in you." (Rom 8:9-11)