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TEXT_133.txt
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1995-02-26
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WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Mark 8:31-32
By Carl McMurray
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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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