WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Mark 8:31-32
By Carl McMurray
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    How would you feel if your best friend began, one day,
to tell you of great tragedy and even death that was soon
to enter his life.  How would you react?  How fiercely 
would you try to help or comfort him?  Mark 8:31 is an 
account of just such a situation, when Jesus was trying to 
prepare His disciples for His approaching suffering and 
death.  The recorded reaction of one of His disciples is 
at the same time both natural and revealing when we 
consider man's relationship to God's will.

    Verse 32 states that Jesus was, "stating the matter 
plainly" and it appears as if the picture of His death was 
simply too much for Peter to bear.  The often vocal 
apostle took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Jesus.  
Certainly he must have been doing this out of the purest 
of motives, his sincere love for Jesus.  He did not want 
to think of his Master suffering and dying, and this was
the way he would show his concern.  Notice however, that 
even with the best of intentions, what Peter was saying 
and advocating was absolutely wrong and Jesus saw the need 
to correct him.

    Peter lacked understanding about the whole plan of God 
and the purpose for the Christ coming.  He needed to learn 
the same lesson that many today need to learn.  What we 
think about a matter of God's will, even when we have the 
best intentions can be.......

    ...MISTAKEN.  Peter would have done better to keep 
quiet and learn.  In thinking solely of his personal 
friendship, he was not able to see the Christ's love for
all men and the necessity of His death.  We too can get 
caught up in the tunnel-vision of a small issue or a 
single Bible passage.  We can forget that all 
Bible passages need to harmonize with others to see all of 
God's will on a particular subject.  Or our particular 
issue may have more to do with personal judgment than it 
does with revealed doctrine.

    ...CARNAL MINDED.  Jesus rebuked Peter for thinking of 
man's interests instead of God's.  How often do we try to 
demand God's attention in prayer to minor inconveniences 
and petty bickering, while at the same time giving little 
attention ourselves to the affairs of His kingdom and the 
sharing of His gospel?  It is easy for our thoughts to be 
centered on physical things rather than spiritual.

    ...HARMFUL TO THE CAUSE.  Just because we have good 
intentions doesn't mean that what we're doing is "good."  
Wrapped up in self, Peter couldn't see the great need for 
Jesus to die.  If he could have gotten his way, what great
harm would Satan have accomplished to God's plan which had 
begun before the world itself?  How many souls have been 
turned away, how many have slipped away without a hand, 
how many churches divided, and friends alienated because 
men fought to get "their way" rather than simply following 
the revealed will of God?

    ...WORTHY OF REBUKE.  Because of the above reasons 
Peter needed rebuke.  Even when we have good intentions - 
we may be wrong.  We may need someone to open our eyes a 
little and give us another viewpoint.  As well as loving 
the Lord greatly, Peter also had a heart of acceptance 
when Jesus spoke to him.  Pleasant or unpleasant, if it 
came from his Master, Peter was willing to put his "think 
so's" on the back burner and receive His words.  That 
needs to be our attitude also.

    In verse 34, Jesus' instructions were to "deny self" 
in order to follow Him.  We need to deny self's opinions 
and self's wishes when it comes to doing God's will.  We
need to open our Bibles and listen to Jesus.  We also need 
to deny self's pride when someone tries to help us by 
correcting us.  It is not our "think so's" or our 
intentions that reveal God's will, only God's word does 
that.  That is where we need to be looking for direction 
and answers.  God will bless our efforts to grow in 
understanding of his will if we will but subject our 
hearts and spirits to follow His instructions.

Contact the writer:
SouthsBest@aol.com
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