The Eyes of Faith
Scripture: Mark 8:17-18, 31-33
Don’t you know or understand even yet? Are your hearts too hard to take it in? 18 ‘You have eyes—can’t you see? You have ears—can’t you hear?’... 31 Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. 32 As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. 33 Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
Observations:
As Jesus continued to intentionally reveal His true identity to His disciples He often asked them very direct questions that challenged their understanding and forced them to engage spiritual realities; however, most of the time they were too "dull" to understand very much at all and were usually left scratching their heads. Yet on this occastion Peter experienced a moment of significant breakthrough when He realized for the first time that Jesus was in fact the long awaited Messiah (vs. 29). But only minutes after his monumental spiritual epiphany, he quickly reverted back to his typical mode of operation and failed to understand what Jesus was getting at to the point that He openly rebuked him in front of his peers and equated his response with satan himself! What did Peter do that illicited such a passionate response out of Jesus? Jesus provides the startling answer in vs 33 "...you are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's." Jesus got so worked up about Peter's response because his own perspective was standing in complete opposition to the will of God by allowing selfish ulterior motives to affect his understanding of what it meant to follow Christ. As far as Peter was concerned, the fact that Jesus was God's Messiah meant great political gain for himself later on. Jesus sharply corrected that line of thinking with one of the clearest statements on what it means to be a disciple of His (vs. 34-38) with costly words like "take up your cross", "turn from your selfish ways", and "give up your life" as the upfront premium.
Application:
Like Peter, we're all in danger of approaching the things of God "from a human point of view" with motives and expectations that run contrary to the very foundation of what it means to follow Jesus. We all have a built-in nature that always asks "what's in it for me?" On the other hand the way of Jesus forces us to deny ourselves and follow Him despite what we don't get out of it and if it costs us our lives in the process, so be it. Jesus demands his followers to recognize and agree to the terms of God's Kingdom before and after we follow Him with no thought of what we will receive. Christianity by definition is centered around Christ, not self; and Christ was and always will be centered upon God and His Kingdom. Jesus is more concerned about that which benefits God's Kingdom than He is how His Kingdom benefits us. In fact, we can expect the same kind of rebuke from God every time our human point of view prompts us to seek personal gain for ourselves at the expense of "taking up our cross and following Him". Thankfully, God's Word provides us with all the understanding we will ever need and helps us see life, relationships, work, money, family, church, etc. from His perspective rather than from our own. It's His Word that "teaches us what is true and to makes us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right." (2 Timothy 3:16-17). It's when we choose to see with the eyes of faith, deny ourselves, and begin to live(think & act) from God's perspective that we are truly His disciples (John 8:31).
Prayer:
Father, open our eyes to see beyond ourselves today and help us to embrace the truth of Your Word as You reveal Your will to us today. Correct and rebuke us where we have been wrong and bring our minds into agreement with Your truth today. Amen.
Don’t you know or understand even yet? Are your hearts too hard to take it in? 18 ‘You have eyes—can’t you see? You have ears—can’t you hear?’... 31 Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. 32 As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. 33 Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
Observations:
As Jesus continued to intentionally reveal His true identity to His disciples He often asked them very direct questions that challenged their understanding and forced them to engage spiritual realities; however, most of the time they were too "dull" to understand very much at all and were usually left scratching their heads. Yet on this occastion Peter experienced a moment of significant breakthrough when He realized for the first time that Jesus was in fact the long awaited Messiah (vs. 29). But only minutes after his monumental spiritual epiphany, he quickly reverted back to his typical mode of operation and failed to understand what Jesus was getting at to the point that He openly rebuked him in front of his peers and equated his response with satan himself! What did Peter do that illicited such a passionate response out of Jesus? Jesus provides the startling answer in vs 33 "...you are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's." Jesus got so worked up about Peter's response because his own perspective was standing in complete opposition to the will of God by allowing selfish ulterior motives to affect his understanding of what it meant to follow Christ. As far as Peter was concerned, the fact that Jesus was God's Messiah meant great political gain for himself later on. Jesus sharply corrected that line of thinking with one of the clearest statements on what it means to be a disciple of His (vs. 34-38) with costly words like "take up your cross", "turn from your selfish ways", and "give up your life" as the upfront premium.
Application:
Like Peter, we're all in danger of approaching the things of God "from a human point of view" with motives and expectations that run contrary to the very foundation of what it means to follow Jesus. We all have a built-in nature that always asks "what's in it for me?" On the other hand the way of Jesus forces us to deny ourselves and follow Him despite what we don't get out of it and if it costs us our lives in the process, so be it. Jesus demands his followers to recognize and agree to the terms of God's Kingdom before and after we follow Him with no thought of what we will receive. Christianity by definition is centered around Christ, not self; and Christ was and always will be centered upon God and His Kingdom. Jesus is more concerned about that which benefits God's Kingdom than He is how His Kingdom benefits us. In fact, we can expect the same kind of rebuke from God every time our human point of view prompts us to seek personal gain for ourselves at the expense of "taking up our cross and following Him". Thankfully, God's Word provides us with all the understanding we will ever need and helps us see life, relationships, work, money, family, church, etc. from His perspective rather than from our own. It's His Word that "teaches us what is true and to makes us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right." (2 Timothy 3:16-17). It's when we choose to see with the eyes of faith, deny ourselves, and begin to live(think & act) from God's perspective that we are truly His disciples (John 8:31).
Prayer:
Father, open our eyes to see beyond ourselves today and help us to embrace the truth of Your Word as You reveal Your will to us today. Correct and rebuke us where we have been wrong and bring our minds into agreement with Your truth today. Amen.
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