Read: Matthew 26:36-39 O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt (Matthew 26:39). "If" Or "Nevertheless"? Gethsemane and Calvary remind us of our motives for holy living. Facing death on a cross, our Lord showed us the nature of real consecration: "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." Absalom, the son of David, was exiled from home for three years. Homesick and ambitious for political power, he vowed a vow saying, "If the Lord shall bring me again indeed to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lord" (II Samuel 15:8). Absalom was not the first nor the last to preface his loyalty to God with an if. This is conditioned loyalty. If the Lord blesses me, I will serve Him. If things go well, I will be a Christian. But conditioned loyalty is no loyalty, and conditioned consecration is not consecration. True loyalty is seen in our Lord's utter commitment to God's will. It is seen in the action of three devoted young men who, when facing the issue of life or death, declared: "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up" (Daniel 3:17-18). Is my loyalty to God prefaced by the if of Absalom or by the but if not of three courageous young men? In my Gethsemanes can I follow my Lord and say, "Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt"? Affirmation For Today I have pledged my loyalty to God. By His grace no It's shall be allowed to destroy that loyalty. By His grace I say, NEVERTHELESS -- today, tomorrow, to the end.