Friday Reading: Matthew 16:17
Key Verse: Matthew 16:17
17 Jesus answered and said to him, You are blessed, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but My Father in Heaven.
Devotion:
There are times when I wish that I should be able to be more like Jesus by being able to talk about God in the ways that He could. He was able to tell people about God but in a way that would stick with them forever. The disciples were able to recall much of their lives with Christ and then write down those experiences for us to learn from; but the way they are written gives us an insight into how Christ would teach them. He used their own lives and experiences to give them the insight that each one needed to live for God. He gave them examples from their own lives that would allow them to see just how awesome God really is.
The best part is that we do have the Holy Spirit who can lead us through our lives and do exactly the same for us. It is not a human thing that can be taught, learned or picked up but something that comes straight from God! Jesus pointed this fact out to Simon Peter by reminding him that these teachings came from God and not from man. If we were to rely on man for our learning then we would never be able to lift ourselves any higher than man himself – we would be stuck on earth with absolutely no future to go to! Instead we have God who was willing to allow His own Son to come to us and teach us at ground level to look up to heaven and learn straight from Him instead.
Jesus pointed out to His disciples that they were human (Simon, son of Jonas) and that they were destined to remain as humans – but the most important part was that they could learn from God and pass on that knowledge to others. They had the opportunity of learning from our Heavenly Father; the only stipulation being that they must believe that He is God and that anything is possible through Him. If we limit ourselves to human limits then we cannot see the awesomeness of God. If we limit ourselves whatsoever we are keeping ourselves back from God’s ways (righteous ways) and His limits (or which there are none).
Points to Ponder:
What limits you?
Are you allowing God to expand your learning?
