Wishy-washy

1.14.2008

Matthew 16*
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

These two paragraphs probably portray many of us that follow Christ: one minute we are totally in tune with the Holy Spirit's leading, the next minute we are doing what we think is best, which in reality is going against the Father's plan.
Peter got his best encouragement and toughest rebuke all in two paragraphs.

How often can I be the same way? How often are you the same way? We are a stubbornly independent people; its tough to put too much dependence on anybody. But our Lord said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you* (Heb 13:5)," and that's a promise I like to have faith in. So, knowing that we can have full trust in our Lord, why not put our full dependence on Him and try to live by John the Baptist's statement:

He must increase, but I must decrease. (Jn 3:30)

*The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles.