The Wednesday Word 9.07.2022

 

Matthew 16:21–26 NLT

“21 From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. 22 But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?”

 

Verse 23 has a great deal of meaning for me. I have been known to plagiarize the “get thee behind me, Satan” phrase on many occasions, including a walk past the potato chop aisle in the grocery store! In truth, this means something far more important. It is the end of Verse 23 that has the greater impact. I have to constantly remind myself that I am seeing ‘through a glass darkly” as Paul described it. I can only see the world around me through human eyes. That lens is only formed by my individual personal experience. What I need to learn is how to contemplate what I am seeing from a different perspective. Based on what I know from God’s Holy Word, what might Jesus see in any given situation? We must never presume to claim that we fully know what God knows. That would be hubris in the extreme. However, the more we study what he has told us, the more glimpses we can have into God’s will.

I believe that is our job as His sentient creation: to grow closer to His vision for us; to grow into His will. If God didn’t want us to choose to come to him, why would he have given us free will?…something to pray about.

Don’t forget to look for the Lord today. Vicki H.


                                                                                            photo by Todd Trapani

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