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What Do You Think?
Mark 8:31
How would you feel if your best friend began, one day, to tell you of great
tragedy and even death that was soon to enter his life. How would you react? How
fiercely would you try to comfort or help him? Mark 8:31 is an account of just
such a situation, when Jesus was trying to prepare His disciples for His
approaching suffering and death. The recorded reaction of one of his disciples
is at the same time both natural and revealing when we consider man's
relationship to God's will.
Verse 32 states that Jesus was, "stating the matter plainly" and it appears as
if the picture of His death was simply too much for Peter to bear. The often
vocal apostle took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Jesus. Certainly he must have
been doing this out of the purest of motives, his sincere love of Jesus. He did
not want to think of his Master suffering and dying, and this was the way he
would show his concern. Notice however, that even with the best of intentions,
what Peter was saying and advocating was absolutely wrong and Jesus saw the need
to correct him.
Peter lacked understanding about the whole plan of God and the purpose for the
Christ coming. He needed to learn the same lesson that many today need to learn.
What we think about a matter of God's will, even when we have the best of
intentions can be.......
...MISTAKEN. Peter would have done better
to keep quiet and learn. In thinking solely of his personal friendship, he was
not able to see the Christ's love for all men and the necessity of His death. We
too can get caught up in the tunnel-vision of a small issue or a single Bible
passage. We can forget that all Bible passages need to harmonize with others to
see all of God's will on a particular subject. Or our particular issue may have
more to do with personal judgment than it does with
revealed doctrine.
...CARNAL MINDED. Jesus rebuked Peter for
thinking of man's interests instead of God's. How often do we try to demand
God's attention in prayer to minor inconveniences and petty bickering, while at
the same time giving little attention ourselves to the affairs of His kingdom
and the sharing of His gospel? It is easy for our thought to be centered on
physical things rather than spiritual.
...HARMFUL TO THE CAUSE. Just because we
have good intentions doesn't mean that what we're doing is "good." Wrapped up in
self, Peter couldn't see the great need for Jesus to die. If he could have
gotten his way, what great harm would Satan have accomplished to God's plan
which had begun before the world itself? How many souls have been turned away,
how many have slipped away without a hand, how many churches divided, and
friends alienated because men fought to get "their way" rather than simply
following the revealed will of God?
...WORTHY OF REBUKE. Because of the above
reasons Peter needed rebuke. Even when we have good intentions - we may be
wrong. We may need someone to open our eyes a little and give us another
viewpoint. As well as loving the Lord greatly, Peter also had a heart of
acceptance when Jesus spoke to him. Pleasant or unpleasant, if it came from his
Master, Peter was willing to put his "think so's" on the back burner and receive
His words. That needs to be our attitude also.
In verse 34, Jesus' instructions were to "deny self" in order to follow Him. We
need to deny self's opinions and self's wishes when it comes to doing God's
will. We need to open our Bibles and listen to Jesus. And we need to deny self's
pride when someone tries to help us by correcting us. It is not our "think so's"
or our intentions that reveal God's will, only God's word does that. That is
where we need to be looking for direction and answers.
By Carl McMurray
From Expository Files 3.8; August 1996
