31 Then Jesus began to teach them something new, that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
34 Jesus called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
1 And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power” Mark 8:31-9:1.
I am struck by the fact that, despite the death of John the baptizer, Jesus now teaches the disciples something new. None of them ever imagined that Jesus was going straight to his death. Jesus was telling them that He was going to lose, and that they were going to lose alongside of Him. These words of Jesus to his disciples are still among the most amazing words He ever spoke: “You must deny yourselves and take up your cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it” Mark 8:34-35. Why did Jesus say that had to happen? Because this is the only way the Kingdom of God will come.
This is so important that any opposition to this plan of God must be seen as Satanic!
So here we have one of the most fundamental truths of life: We must live our lives from God’s point of view in a world where such a thing is madness.
So dear friends, take stock of your life today and ask God to help you to live your life from HIS point of view.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.
From the Bible:
“And Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” Matthew 22:37-40.
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” Micah 6:8?
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” Mark 12:30.
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” John 14:6.
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children” Ephesians 5:1.
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