Thought of the Day !!

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.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

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.”

                                    Matthew 16:22-23 (NIV)

Oh how I wish I could be less like this Peter and more like the Peter who, filled with the Holy Spirit, preached at Pentecost with confidence and power.  I wish I could be like the latter Peter who was used to bring thousands into the Church on that same day.  I wish I would not be like the pre-Pentecost Peter who continued to see things from a human point a view.  I wish I would be more like the Peter, who after the Resurrection and ascension actually saw things from God's perspective.

Each day we’re tempted to see things from our own perspective, which is highly influenced by the world around us instead of the teachings of Jesus.  We determine that things are right or wrong, acceptable or not by the set of values we decide on.  Sometimes these values that we hold dear are greatly in line with the will of God.  Sometimes there are some areas where they are in disagreement.  And then there are those times in which our value, our view, is simply contrary to what God teaches us through His Word. 

Will we be courageous enough to seek God’s ways even when they are contrary to all of what our mind and heart is saying is right?  Will we strive to understand better what He desires for us instead of what we think is best?

Believe it or not, God’s ways are better than our ways.  Everything that He teaches us, even the things we do not like, is for the benefit of us, and those around us.  Yet we continue to be like the pre-Pentecost Peter who did “not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” 

Let us strive to be totally devoted to God’s will in our lives.  Let us fight the temptation of thinking that we know what is better than what Jesus teaches.  Let us be like the post-Pentecost Peter and be used by Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit to affect lives around us.

In the love of Christ,

greg