Mark 8:29-33
And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."
I love Peter. He is so me. One minute he is seeing great insights that are based upon faith and truth and the next minute he is stepping in it and demonstrating the truth in his heart; that he lacks any real spiritual depth, at all. Peter is the perfect picture of the redeemed man. The redeemed man is saved by grace through faith and filled with the Spirit of Christ and blessed with a bounty of wisdom and spiritual understanding, that is only waiting to be tapped into by even a slight and limited act of faith ... and, at the same time, wrapped in flesh and warped by the sin nature that, defeated ultimately, remains steadfastly breathing out threats and influencing with corruption even the strongest of minds. The truth is, sin still corrupts us, even though we can walk with Christ and recognize the truth of who Christ is. Peter was able to articulate the beauty of Christ. He was able to say what other couldn't, "You are the Christ." Yet, he failed moments later to recognize t he plan of Christ, to lay down his life for his friends. We can worship on Sunday and see Christ, high and lofty; and, then on Monday, speak ill of our brother and not even notice how we have shamed the name of Christ. Christ came to save us from the penalty of sin and, eventually, the presence of sin. He strengthens us to give us power over sin, today, however. Peter didn't yet have the Spirit of God in his life, like we do. That didn't come until after Pentecost, when Peter and the other disciples were filled. Today we have the Spirit giving us power and strength to over come sin. We only have to submit to that power by faith to see it live out in our lives. That is the truth at overcomes the struggle we have in this life with the sin in our flesh. Submit to Christ and allow the Spirit of God to rule in our hearts.
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