July 31, 2024

Passage Read: Matthew 15-16
Meditation Verses: 16:22-25

Thought

Jesus foretells His suffering, death and resurrection, but Peter rebukes Him (still thinking the two are mostly equals, I suppose), sure that nothing like Jesus says will ever happen. As if he knew that God would never allow it. God would never allow His righteous servant, the promised Messiah, to suffer and die, but surely He will exalt His appointed Christ and make all men worship and honor Him! Jesus then rebukes Peter, and warns all of them that if they do not give up their lives in order to follow Him, they cannot truly follow Him. If anyone is determined to save his life, he will lose it, but anyone who loses his life for the sake of Christ, he will save his life. Jesus ties the two together: His own literal death (and resurrection) and our need to die to ourselves (and even literally) so that we can truly follow Jesus and serve God. If Jesus doesn't have to die, then neither do we, but if Jesus does have to die, then so do we. If God allows His only Son to die for us, then God will also expect us to die for His only Son.

Application

If God is willing to give up His Son for us, then He's also willing to give up our lives for the sake of others. He didn't send His Son to die for us so that nothing bad could ever happen to us. Instead, the only way to save our lives is to surrender them completely to God, to do with as He pleases. The scary thing about Jesus's death and resurrection is that we too must be prepared to likewise die ourselves for the sake of others knowing Jesus and having a chance to believe and be saved. And like Jesus, we too know that if we surrender our lives, if we die to ourselves and live for Him, then we too will rise again and live forever in His presence. Jesus's death is proof that I need to die to myself and live for Jesus, and perhaps even lay down my life literally, as Jesus did, for the sake of others, that they might be saved. If I want to follow Jesus, I must give up all control and submit myself even unto death to the Lordship of Christ.