Mark 8:31-33

³¹ Then he began to teach them that it was necessary for the Son of Man to undergo extreme suffering, and be declared counterfeit[1] by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days be raised. ³² He told this word boldly. And Peter, taking him aside, 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 the purposes of God but on human purposes.”

reorientation

It was necessary for Jesus to suffer and be rejected and mistreated and killed. It was also necessary for the Peter and the other disciples to stop telling themselves that following Christ was the path to only blessing and good things.

You and I need to undergo the same reorientation. There is among us a tendency to believe that faith will solve every problem, and that God never wants us to experience pain or failure. But When Jesus talked about the purposes of God here, he was talking about that.

This side of the resurrection, God actually intends for us to glorify him by being faithful to his purposes, even if those purposes are not positive or encouraging. Any religion that refuses to accept that is guilty of the same thing that Peter was guilty of here: setting his mind on human purposes instead of God’s purposes. Such a religion is not Christian. Jesus himself called it Satanic.

If you think “God is good all the time” means that he will never bring you to the cross for his glory, you are in the wrong camp. Repent!

LORD, we surrender our purposes, and seek to follow you – even to the cross.

[1] αποδοκιμαζω