“The Concerns Of God”
From
that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he
must go to
Peter took him aside
and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to
you!”
Jesus turned and said
to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not
have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
Then Jesus said to
his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take
up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose
it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their
soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For
the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then
he will reward each person according to what they have done.
“Truly I tell you,
some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man
coming in his kingdom.”
Matthew
16:21-28
There is a Titanic exhibit in which the names of
survivors are above the line, and the names of those below the line died in the
tragedy.
God maintains a
similar list of the Book of the Living.
It really doesn’t
matter how the world ranks your status. The only thing that matters is whether
you are “saved,” or “lost.”
What about our fellow
passengers through life? Instead of sizing them up by the externals, talk to
each about their ultimate destination.
In light
of eternity, what one believes is far more important than what one achieves.
Our Daily Bread –