August 10, 2024

Passage Read: Mark 7-8
Meditation Verses: 8:31-33

Thought

The desire to preserve life is so strong, whether it be a friend's life, a loved one's life or our own. Peter is unwilling for Jesus to die, at minimum purely out of human compassion, probably also because He believed Him to be the Christ and wanted Him to reign as king, not die. But Jesus moves the topic from preserving His life to preserving our own lives. We are not to love our lives so much that we shrink from death. We should love Jesus and God's purposes far more than we love our lives, so that were willing to risk everything for Him. Man's interests are all focused on this life and this age, but God's purposes are focused on saving men's souls so that they can live with Him forever, rather than suffer judgment and eternal destruction. Until we shift our perspective to God's, we can't really say we care about others.

Application

I need to continually hold in mind that saving someone's life is no where near as important as saving someone's soul. But to save a soul requires calling that person to repentance, which can damage the relationship. I need to stop worrying so much about offending people; that's setting my mind on earthly things, earthly relationships. I need to be more concerned about what God cares about, and that's the eternal destination of every soul around me.