21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Kendra Shaw
Alliance Northwest – Portland OR
Observation: (Matt 16:23) I’m struck by Jesus’ immediate and confident response to Peter. Because Jesus so understood who He was and what He was about, He immediately recognized Peter’s words as false and not from God.
Action: Father, today as I go about my day, I want the reality of who I am as your daughter and what you want me to be about, to be the thing that drives all of my responses to all of my encounters today; rather than fears or compulsions.
Observation: I see Jesus calking mW to tkae up a cross, to lose my life, to make a sacrifice of myself and embrace humility and hardship. I see that I don’t want to do this, that I am reluctant to do this because I really desire a worldly life of comfort, luxury, and the admiration of others.
Action: Forgive me, Jesus, for not having Your heart and values. I repent of my bad (but deeply engrained) desires and accept the cross You have for me.
Observation: I wonder what it would be like to be a time traveler, to visit a time but not be part of it. You are immersed, yet separate. That’s the attitude we should have in this life.
Action: Remember who I am, someone (like Jesus) not of this earth. Be immersed, help others, but be secure in my identity, renewing it with daily communion with my Father.
Observation: Lord I am so quick to say that something that is a hardship is not Your will. Going to the cross was hard, to put it mildly!! And yet that was Your will for Jesus.
Action: Today I will walk toward the hard stuff. I know it’s Your will, the path You’ve set before me, knowing full well that You are there every step of the way. Lord, help me to have the things of You on my mind, not the things of man.
And when you walk toward the hard stuff, Sharon, your brothers and sisters are with you too.
Starting w/ verse 21, I am struck w/ the realization that hanging out w/ Jesus will not be fun & games anymore. Before this verse life was full of adoring fans & common people. Now life will be dealing w/ the powers & authorities of Jerusalem wanting to accuse & Abuse & kill them.
This is a crossroad of choosing Jesus way or the highway. I pray that Jesus will always keep me on the right road.