Happy Monday! Sometimes God's Word is soothing. Sometimes it's shocking! Sometimes it's both!
PRAY and ask God to give you life, strength, energy, joy, and excitement for His presence in your life today, as you read His Word and listen to His Spirit.
READ Matthew 16.
REFLECT
Jesus speaks words that soothe to groups that need His healing touch. He speaks words of challenge to those whose minds are far from God and His plans. The Pharisees and Sadducees were supposed to have their minds on godly ideas, but they were looking for the wrong things. And though Peter was able to cut through all the popular notions of who Jesus was to identify Him as Christ and God the Son, he still rejected Jesus' explanation that sacrifice was necessary. Jesus told them to deny themselves, to take up their crosses, and to follow Jesus. Peter still wanted to "gain the world" but Jesus was thinking of something far greater. The shocking words that Jesus spoke, even calling Peter "Satan," were needed. But He also spoke words of promise, promises of life, a life eternal, with Him.
RESPOND
What words do we want Jesus to speak to us today? Are we open to having Jesus challenge us? If we are not letting Jesus dictate how our lives are going to go, and how He is going to lead us when we follow Him, then we are not following Him the right way! If we're not seeking our lives according to how He sets the rules and marks the path, then we are offline and out-of-bounds. We are, in effect, taking the role or under the influence of Satan! But most of us would never consider describing our attitudes or approach in those terms! What would Jesus say? We tone it down a lot to save our egos. Maybe we need to humble ourselves more. Maybe we need to allow Jesus to define humble more than we do. Amazingly, Peter wouldn't have let Jesus do the very thing He needed to do to save us. If we do not let God lead us, we will truly be lost. But if we follow Him, we will find life. Let's humble ourselves and let God teach us.
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