Devotional

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 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. 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. Mat 16:15-18, ESV

I can’t help but notice a very inspiring order of operations in this part of Matthew’s gospel. The disciples’ understanding of Jesus has been developing up until this point and now they are finally beginning to see that Jesus is the Christ. They are “getting it.” Just a bit earlier Jesus told them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The disciples understood that Jesus was talking about their teaching (Mat 16:12) and so marked the turning tide. This is a big step for these guys. This would be a big step or a landmark in our own lives as well. This is the point where we finally start to see what God has been getting at; more importantly, what God has been revealing.

The very first step in this whole ordeal was that God called the disciples through Christ Jesus. It was God who drew them through Christ. Now at this point in their walk they are starting to see the truth about who Christ is. Jesus told them that they are blessed because the revelation is not coming from Jesus or some other person or some other understanding. They have been shown something that the prophets of old had longed to see and a matter also that angels desired to look into (1Pe 1:12). This is cause for Jesus to call them blessed.

I’ve heard some pastors belittle the word being used here like it simply means “happy.” True: that is one of the things it denotes. However, the Greek word for blessed, makarios, is not human happiness, but divine favor. Oh happy are you Simon because you’ve been shown something happy…no…Simon you have been revealed a divine message that many do not see and have not ever seen! That God has called you to see this is a major, earth shattering, bomb-dropping deal! You are experiencing divine favor. This is not a light thing, brother!

And so you too! Me too! That you have been called of God to be revealed Christ is the Lord is not something you should simply view as happy. You are divinely favored. So now we have God’s call on Christ’s disciples and God having divine favor on his disciples by showing them the truth of who Christ is. Next, is something many people have paid a lot of money to try to understand. You ready?

Christ tells Simon who he is: Peter! The Greek word means “rock.” This was prophesied to Simon when Jesus first called him (Joh 1:40-42). This also echoes the change in name Abram experienced to Abraham when God called him. Jesus testifies later that He is the chief rock: the cornerstone (Mat 21:42). This process of God calling, revealing, believers coming to understand, and learning who we are in Christ Jesus is what the church will be built upon. He was talking to Peter here for sure, but Jesus also meant to show the model that is used for maturity and growth in God for all those who believe.

With this empowerment authority is given. Jesus pronounces blessings saying the gates of hell will not prevail against his Church. They will have the keys of the kingdom of heaven to bind and loose. Nothing will separate you from who you are in Christ! You are divinely favored. It’s a big deal and a real deal. When God draws us close, let us not recoil. Let us draw near to him and learn who we are as his sons and daughters, and the mission he has for our lives.

Isaiah 60:18-19

This is a picture of the coming day when the King of Kings will live with us in a renewed earth! Although we will witness violence and destruction until his return, there is joy in realizing he is already our light by day, the brightness of our morning, and completes our everlasting joy. 

Just because peril is near, doesn’t mean you are saved any less! The justification you received through faith at the moment of your acceptance of him as savior, cannot be taken away. As long as we continue to put our undivided focus on him we will be empowered to see these days for what they are: full of his glory. 

It takes work to change gloom to a joyful tune. To refocus on good things when bad things are so much more attention-demanding takes effort. But it pays to focus on the delayed, incomparable gratification of things that are pure, of good report, and peaceful. 

My wife’s grandfather just passed away. He was a veteran who fought at Normandy and The Battle of the Bulge. He was the recipient of a Purple Heart. Many who see such horrors as war have a difficult time with life. The things they have seen have caused some of them emotional and psychological harm. However, my grandfather-in-law, Kenny, loved having fun, making jokes, and caring for others. The one thing he seemed to have held on to was the hope of grace. 

He wrestled with the question, why did he survive when many of his friends perished in the war? Grace. It is a mystery of God. I suppose a reason could be the effect Kenny had on his children, children’s children, and his children’s children’s children. Say that fast! For someone to have been so loving and concerned about his family’s well-being is an example of godliness. Perhaps, God chose to use Kenny to bring an important message. A good man leaves an inheritance to his children and the generations after (Pro 13:22).

Whatever the reason one survives and another does not is a complicated mess. In the case of Kenny, his life was an amazing testimony of how focusing on those things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, thinking on these things overcomes the darkness (Php 4:8). Kenny believed in the grace of God, his tender mercy, and the support of his family. And not just one-way support: he gave and he received it in return. 

My walls are made of Salvation
Kept sturdy by an arm that raises
They guard against the thieves
By gates made of praises
They open only for my king
The Lord he is mighty
My strength and my reward
Under his wing I am hiding
His sun heats my face
Warms the flowing water
Yet his son who lights my way
Is closer never farther

“By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life.” Proverbs 22:4 

Submitting to the Lord requires our humility. Do we understand what that really means? Often what the Lord requires of us at a certain moment could be embarrassing or frightful, but ultimately it will involve some form of humiliation because we are putting ourselves last and putting God before us in trying to be obedient with whatever it is that is going on. 

Of course there are times when we need to rest and rejuvenate. I’m talking more about what it feels like to obey. Sometimes the humiliation is only in our minds; at other times it is the humiliation of standing for the truth of the cross in the face of opposition or in the face of feeling inadequate. 

But the rewards of humility and the fear (reverence) of the Lord are riches, honor, and life! No wonder why we so often miss it! Who wants to be humble when you’re being taken advantage of? Clearly we shouldn’t be pushovers, right? That’s true. But sometimes we may need to be silent and non-defensive at the very moment we are feeling humiliated. That is a distant concept in a world of physical needs. Our nature is that if we feel dissonance, we immediately seek to balance it. Our physical world can demand attention, but we should rule over it. 

If we want continued success, continued blessings, we need to have continued humility, and continued reverence to the giver of all good things! Honor, riches, and life follow those who love him. Life is so much more than monetary gain. A 6-figure salary pales in comparison to a family rich in togetherness, adventure, and support. I’m hopeful I can have both! But I choose my family first. There is a joy that cannot be shaken, and is more stable than the strongest financial markets. That joy is found in Christ Jesus!

“Whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” 1 John 2:5-6 

Anyone who keeps the word of God will identify through the art of practice what is that perfect will of God, and just how far his love goes. We cannot stand afar off and say; yep, I believe the word of God is true. To really know the depths of God’s love and his will is to realize it through practice. Those who come to God must first believe that he IS God (Heb 11:6). Continue in that hope that began when you first believed, and that has changed you thus far! 

It is a good thing that we are new creations. Though it can seem untrue at times as the old nature rears its ugly head, the old you is losing influence having been nailed to the cross. It was submerged in baptism and you rose up washed and renewed.  

We are living now in Christ. When we give him our best we receive his best: running over, pressed down, shaken together.  Give up who you once were and walk on with who you really are! We have become children of God by a covenant. We have entered into a marriage with our God. And he has chosen you and has called you by name to inherit the promises he has meant for you to receive from the very beginning.

“How precious also are Your thoughts unto me O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You.” Psalm 139:17-18

There is a lot of thought being put into our life; on the behalf of him who loves you and gave himself for you. I remember saying one day to my pastor that I wonder if God really knows how much I love him. And he said to me, “Not nearly as much as he loves you.” I thought that was pretty amazing because I was in one of those moments after a great service where I was basking in his Spirit and so appreciative of how he had blessed me recently. So in that type of moment, to hear of such a statement truly put more significance on how truly great God is. While in a moment of feeling the truest love, God exceeds those feelings.

I couldn’t even begin to figure out how to compose a number to identify how many grains of sand are on any beach; yet, God thinks of us to that degree. His thoughts are continually bent on our good. This day has been given to you for your good; for your increase. Use it wisely. You won’t get it back again. Know that God has given it for an important purpose. It’s not the same old bump and grind. If at the very least, it is off-season training for the bright lights of game day.

From the moment we are conceived in the womb unto this very day, God desires your company. The Scriptures absolutely contradict a view of humanity that we are walking out a random destiny that was imposed on us by the universe that has no concern for what it prescribes. It is not blind forces that regulate human affairs or political superpowers. The view presented by Scripture for humanity is one of purpose and intent.

He loved us to the degree that he sent his only son to redeem us. At the moment you accepted this salvation, you received justification to become the children of God: the recipients of this love beyond love. It didn’t come through our own efforts, but was given at the cross and accepted by you as a free gift. Now you’re justified! Completely! The process of sanctification is a bit more time-consuming. It is your transition to holiness. You are now in the midst of it, and losing those things that were once part of you in exchange for the righteousness of Christ.

He will not lose one of his sheep. Though peace seems to be an unstable element on earth, it is available for you. Our enemy loves to try to remove it, wherever possible, by getting us to focus on the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. But you are a royal priesthood with the authority and mission to make such things subject to the mind of Christ who is in you. You are a precious treasure to behold because your life is hid with Christ in God, and is being raised in righteousness. His work and his thoughts will cease concerning you!

“I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud and your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you. Shout for joy, O heavens, for the Lord has done it! Shout joyfully, you lower parts of the earth; Break forth into a shout of joy, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it” (KJV) Isaiah 44:22-23 

Anyone that has driven through heavy fog knows that it is impossible to see a safe enough distance ahead to feel comfortable traveling at a fast pace. My father had to stop every few miles and clean the windshield and wipers during a bad snow storm on our way to Kentucky. He had training for work and made a family trip out of it. The wet snow made driving a very slow, frustrating process.  

Like clearing away the icy and debris from a windshield God has cleared away and blotted out our sins! What privilege we have. We now see a little more clearly because of him. What looked like a heavy mist and cloud of sin surrounding us is no longer hindering our view. What happened to us at salvation was that we crucified this flesh. The old you passed away and you were bought at a price.  

This doesn’t eliminate any possibility of sin, but it gives us renewed thinking. Just as Christ was crucified, our view of our former selves should follow that mindset. We should be able to recognize old thoughts and then do something about them. Paul said that he takes every thought and makes them conform to the image of Christ (2Cor 10:5). Do you realize that some thoughts you have are not to be thought on at all? 95% of our emotions are “determined by the way we interpret things” (Lee, 2008). We turned our back on the old nature, but it still taps our shoulder for attention.  

As any Minnesotan can tell you, snow and fog can blot out a view pretty substantially. How much better the blood of Christ blots out our shortcomings. Move forward with courage. Take on the new mind. You are righteous and a new creation in Christ Jesus!

“But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (KJV) Romans 6:22 

Conversations with old friends remind me of all the shenanigans we pulled. The reality is that some of my youthful days yielded terrible habits, and some have caused other people trouble. So then what do I really have today from those investments of my time in the past? Those things have no fruit, only trouble. Albeit that they can be used for good by a God who restores!  

This verse makes me feel somewhat like a snowmobile trailer. I have been unhitched from a rusted out truck kicking up bags of smoke and lining the roadways with debris. Then I have been hitched onto a truck that never rusts, decays, or runs out of fuel, and cleans up the roadways as it chugs faithfully along. I can’t help but notice this blatantly polarized view Paul has given in this Scripture: freed from sin, bonded to God. Isn’t like a trailer? We can do nothing on our own, and based on our choices we are either allowing ourselves to be tugged by a rusty vehicle or an incorruptible vehicle.  

God has suffered greatly to remove us from those things we used to do. He has worked painstakingly to remove us from our past ways. We are counted worthy and we bring pleasure to the Father for our belief in him through the work of the death of Jesus Christ. We no longer operate in those old ways. We have plotted a new course that goes against our auto-pilot program. Though we can’t erase the past, we have walked away from its repetition. Our minds are being renewed to better thinking (Rom 12:2). If so, then why reattach to spiritual vehicles of a lesser nature? We have to abandon old thought processes and understandings because, yes, they will try to surface again and again. A living sacrifice needs to be put to death continually.  Apostle Paul says he dies daily (1 Cor 15:31).  

We do not need to hide from our past because God has forgiven it. He is using these past things to point to our need for a new mind, redemption, renewed life, and that we are a testimony of his saving power. We have become new creations in Christ. The old is gone. Alive forevermore is who he is making you to be!

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (KJV) John 6:63-66  

Knowledge can puff up when left separated from submission to the Spirit of God who is the stamp of God’s love sent to dwell with us until we realize our full potential as heirs of the kingdom given to Christ (1Cor 8:11). We are to add temperance to our knowledge, and to add patience to that temperance, and as we’re patient, to add godliness in our daily life. There is a progressive climb communicated in Scripture. Our justification happens the moment we accept Christ as our Lord. Sanctification is a process as we change from fleshly minded to spiritually minded.  

Our enemy always loves to sway us from one extreme to another. If we hit the bullseye, we’re right on target. Why would those spirits who are disloyal to God care to allow us to do that unchallenged? At times we may value knowledge over spirituality, and other times we value spirituality over knowledge. There is a perfect sweet spot between love and truth. 

Knowledge alone is useless because the flesh is not helpful. If we could obey laws alone, or advance just by knowing something, we would have done it long ago. But when we come to know, and obey the Spirit through faith, we are worshipping the Lord in Spirit and in Truth. We get truth from his word, and conviction and direction from the Holy Spirit. So then doctrine has value because the Spirit uses it.  

If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. John 7:17-18

 There’s a fear and reverence there. No one likes being exposed. But when it comes, we choose either to walk into it or hide from it: staying in our sin. I thank God that he has chosen you and I to be exposed, receive correction, and then come to the light by responding to him. Keep climbing. Don’t despise correction. Don’t despise humble beginnings. Love the body of Christ, working together, for it is also your own body.