Get Me Out of the Way

21 From then on Jesus began to point out to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.
22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, "Oh no, Lord! This will never happen to You!"
23 But He turned and told Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me because you're not thinking about God's concerns, but man's."
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.(Mat 16:21-24 HCSB)

I really don't think Peter meant wrong in what he did in verse 22, but I think that Peter was more about what he wanted for Jesus than what God wanted for Jesus. This caused Jesus to confront him, rebuking him and thus using the moment as a teaching moment to his disciples that those who would follow Him must get behind Him. To get behind Him, it is imperative that any particular person would deny himself (rejection of our will), take up their cross (death to our will), and follow Him (submission and pursuit of His will).

All over this world this week, millions of plans will be made in hopes of arriving at some kind of wishful expectation through the means of these plans. This week alone, Christians, maybe even you or me, could easily begin to make plans in hopes that it would provide a channel for God's blessing to be received. Churches will do this and have done this, and it begs us to see whether we set up plans in hopes that God will take the bait or whether we will ask Him and wait and see how He moves--and then we make our move. We do this now and then when we're uncertain and someone who knows what they're talking about (or seems like they have a handle on the situation) is there to take the lead for us. (It would be helpful for you to read the blogs from the last few days.)

Let me tell you something--Jesus says that He is near to us. "The Lord is near," says Philippians 4:5. He's at hand--and He's just waiting for you, always waiting for you, to simply ask Him how to handle your situations. I am hopeful to become a pastor some day soon, if God wills, and while I can establish all of these "goals" for a church as to how we'll bring about wonderful change where it's needed, all I can say at best is that I can't go running out into the crossfire in hopes that my devised paths will lead us to better days-and hope that maybe just maybe God will come along with us. No, I would say to you that God wants to be our "point man," guiding us in our moves and in our objectives and blessing us in His ways--and it may even be contrary to what we think is going to be to our benefit at times!!! But take heart, God does know best and He can be trusted.

No matter where you are in your life, you should know that you don't need to "go it alone." God would give you wisdom and you could make decisions with confidence if you asked Him and stepped out in faith with your decisions. He'll be there to catch you as you step out into the unknown, and even if your other fellow humans scorn you in your decisions, you can take heart that God has not abandoned you, but rather has led you in this. Don't get careless and ask God to bless you after you make your plans. That kind of living is comparable to the age old saying, "Shoot first and ask questions later." Maybe you're looking into a career change, dealing with problems in your home or workplace, you want to quit something--maybe you've even contemplated ending your life to "solve" your problems. Could I intrude and simply say to you, "Ask God first"?

Jesus, who is God in the flesh, the Son, made it a continual point to seek the Father's will and not His own. If Jesus did that, how much more do you and I need to do that?

Seek the Father's will for all your plans and responses, and having done that, then step out in faith, trusting that as you trust in Him, He will lead you to do what He wants you to do. How many sins would be avoided if people just stopped before doing them to say, "God, what would you have me do in this circumstance?" and trusted Him as they submitted their will to His own? Lord, even if I am the only one to do it among all those I am surrounded by, get me out of the way.