“You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s” (Mark 8:33 NLT).
After Jesus described the suffering, death, and ultimate resurrection that He as the Messiah would soon endure, Peter began to reprimand Him for such talk. Jesus saw that Satan was influencing Peter to tempt Him, so He rebuked Peter and warned him of his limited, human point of view. Peter didn’t understand Christ’s mission. He recognized Jesus as Messiah, but he didn’t yet see the Messiah’s purpose.
We often suffer from Peter’s kind of worldly near-sightedness. We don’t understand God’s purpose. We don’t understand that God cares more for our character than our comfort. He’s making us like Jesus. That’s His purpose. He chose us to become like His Son. And that means that we are sometimes called to suffer. Yet, always knowing that He will never leave us, nor forsake us. And always knowing that there is a resurrection Day to come.
Understanding God’s purpose, we can see life from His point of view.
PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You for revealing Your purpose for us through Jesus. We pray for Your kingdom to come and Your will to be done in us and in our world. We are Your servants. And we long to be with You someday in glory. Yet, for now, strengthen us by Your Spirit to see all things from Your point of view. In Jesus’ name, amen.