Today is the last day that we will be wrestling with Jesus first prediction of His death and Peter’s reaction in Mark 8:31-33 which says:31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33 But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
In this last day of looking at this, let us take notice of is how often we fail to see that there is a very thin line between doing the Lord’s work and doing the devil’s work. Peter I am sure thought he was doing Jesus a favor by chiding Him. With this being the case we see why it is vitally important that every thought that we have be taken captive and brought to Jesus as we find in 2 Corinthians 10:5. We need to be making sure that in every action and thought that we do is screened through the filter of the Word of God and will of God. Keep in mind 1 Thessalonians 5:21 -22 which says; But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.
Thinking of Jesus and Peter here we something vitally important. When someone appears to or does fail the Lord in a big way or small way, it is up to the rest of us to help them get back where they should be with the Lord, as we learn from Galatians 6:1-2. It says; Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.
We all have our moments of failures, but that does not mean that our usefulness and effectiveness are at an end. It simply means that we need to pick up the pieces and move forward doing what we know we need to do all for the glory of God! We believers need to restore others in a spirit of gentleness when they fail and not in a spirit of condemnation. Too often we just write people off – Jesus never does that – He never writes anyone off. He never writes Peter off who made many mistakes but He restores him on every occasion.
Have you ever written someone off?
