VERSE FOR TODAY: But when he had turned out and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men (Mark 8:33).
HYMN FOR TODAY: "If I Have Wounded Any Soul Today"
The area of Caesarea Philippi was once a center of Baal worship, and later a center of worship for the Greek god pan. Still later, a marble temple was built there in honor of Caesar of Augustus. There Peter said to Jesus, "Thou Art the Christ."
Our world Christ comes from Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah, which means Anointed. For centuries the Jewish people dreamed of a king who would destroy their enemies, gather scattered Jews to the homeland, and about an eternal age of peace. Now the Anointed One had come!
In response to Peter's declaration, Jesus said He must suffer, be rejected and killed. That was horrifying to the to the disciples. Jesus was their Messiah! Impetuous Peter began to protest that such a fate would never come to the Christ. Then Jesus, though he loved Peter deeply rebuked him as a tempter.
There is lesson here for all of us. Sometimes those who love us most try to save us pain by advising us to abandon a course we know to be right. Like Jesus, we must be able to resist those voices and listen to God's voice in our lives.
PRAYER THOUGHTS: Our Father, thank You for Jesus and His example. May we listen to Your voice in our lives. Help us to evaluate all that we do in light of Your Word, even if it brings pain. Then help us to exemplify that same principle as we advise others. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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