Tuesday 23 Oct 2012

Tuesday Reading: Matthew 16:21-23

Key Verse: Matthew 16:23
23  But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

Devotion:
The first reaction of the disciples when Jesus told them about what He would have to go through was of anger. They were angry that Christ would even think of things like that happening to Himself when they now knew Him as the Son of God. But what they did not grasp at this time was that there was a very good reason why this all had to happen and the fact that God does actually know what is best for each one of us; this was something that He was doing for the whole world!

One thing that always struck me was the wording that Jesus used here in using the name of Satan in His rebuke of Peter. Was He calling Peter Satan? I don’t think so. I believe that because the disciples were not yet full of the Spirit and they had not yet had Christ die for them on the cross, they were still open to the many things that Satan could do in their lives. Before each of us comes to know Christ as our Saviour, we are still open to the evil one using us in ways that we don’t understand either. I believe that Satan was probably responsible for the reaction that came from Peter and hence Christ was rebuking Satan for doing so.

I am so very thankful that Christ has done what He said He would do and that we now are no longer under the control of the evil one; yes we do still get into trouble because we give in to sin, but we don’t have to, we are making a choice. Before we have that personal bond with Christ we are open to being used of Satan and we can see so much evidence of people being used of Satan in our bibles – why should it be any different nowadays?

Christ did what had to be done so that we would have a choice in our lives again. He laid His life down so that we would be able to choose to have Him as our Saviour so that we may forever be safe in His arms. So many people we meet in our lives do not know Christ and when we see how susceptible they are to the evil ways of this world we are reminded of what Christ has done for us. Let us never forget the pit that Christ has lifted us up from – just because we chose to ask Him to forgive us of our sins.

Points to Ponder:
How do you look upon evil?

Do you realise how much Christ has done for you?