Because of the weather, we are unable to come together at the church for worship. However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t share a moment to honor God! I’d like to share a short devotional moment with you on this cold and snowy day.
Mark 8:31-38
31 Then Jesus began to teach his disciples: “The Human One must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and the legal experts, and be killed, and then, after three days, rise from the dead.” 32 He said this plainly. But Peter took hold of Jesus and, scolding him, began to correct him. 33 Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, then sternly corrected Peter: “Get behind me, Satan. You are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts.”
34 After calling the crowd together with his disciples, Jesus said to them, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. 35 All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me and because of the good news will save them. 36 Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? 37 What will people give in exchange for their lives? 38 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this unfaithful and sinful generation, the Human One will be ashamed of that person when he comes in the Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
What kind of thoughts consume you? Are they God’s thoughts that guide your life or human ones? Even Jesus’ disciples showed that it was difficult for them, who heard and walked with Jesus every day for 3 years, to think God’s thoughts.
In the passage just read, Jesus lays out God’s plan for the salvation of His children. Almost instantly, though, Peter speaks up, “correcting” Jesus – which leads one to believe that Peter was giving Jesus not just disapproval for God’s plan, but a “better” alternative plan as well. When Jesus turns to his disciples and none of them are telling Peter to be quiet, I think that it is safe to assume that the other disciples were found to be in agreement with Peter’s way of thinking. What Peter was doing was following conventional human standards in thinking. To practice self-sacrifice is seen as voluntary weakness, and in a society that values strength, we are conditioned to avoid weakness at all times. This line of thinking is called out by Jesus when he states that these are human thoughts and not God’s.
Jesus shares with the crowd that has gathered around him that if anybody wants to save their lives, they must lose their life for the sake of Jesus and the message that he shares. In our best human wisdom, the practice of taking up one’s cross and practicing self-sacrifice seems unconventional. We are taught by our society’s media that to be whole we need to seek out our personal wants and desires. We are given several self-medicating possibilities and are told that these are the ways in which we can be fixed. We effectively buy into human thoughts.
When we do the illogical of denying ourselves and following Christ – when we decide to lose our lives by self-sacrifice which reflects the Kingdom of God, we find that we actually find our lives. In essence, we give up who society says we are and we find who God planned for us to be. This can only happen when we are willing to relinquish our human control and thoughts.
So, here’s the question: are you willing to lose your life for the sake of the Kingdom of God, even though that means relinquishing control and sacrificing yourself so that others might know God’s love? Are you willing to change your thinking, allow the Spirit to fill your mind with Godly thoughts and lose your life for the sake of the Gospel message that Jesus preached? If so, you will find your life the way that God intended.
