I Am Not Of This World

     I was reading my Bible today and felt conviction so powerful! This is the passage that I read:
Mark 8:31-38
And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, "Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest  not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men." And when he called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
     There is so much spiritual truth in this small passage. The essence of Christiandom is right here. I found several spiritual truths that pierced my heart and convicted me.
     The first thing I thought about is how ashamed Peter must have felt when he rebuked Jesus and, consequently, was literally called Satan. According to other Gospels, Peter had just accepted Jesus as the Messiah. He had accomplished all the requirements for salvation that Jesus lays out in verse 34. He accepted Jesus as the Savior of mankind and agreed to follow Him. In Peter's case, this was a literal following. And yet, in one moment, he put his cross down and rebuked Jesus for saying that He was going to die. Surely Peter knew that Jesus spoke the truth. After all, Jesus calls Himself the Truth. Surely Peter knew that Jesus knew better than Him. He is One with the Creator of the universe. Surely Peter knew that Jesus wouldn't lie. Lying is a sin and Jesus's sinlessness is what set Him apart from other men. And yet, he went back to his corrupted finite way of thinking and rebuked Jesus. Don't we do the same thing? The Holy Spirit speaks to us and convicts us about something, and what do we do? We tell Him that we know better and do that which is according to what we feel is best for us. Sometimes we do it consciously; sometimes we don't. But wrong is wrong whether or not we think about it before we do it. And when we go against God, we are likened unto Satan. We do the same thing that Peter did, and the Holy Spirit is inside us saying, "Get behind me, Satan."
     We often look at Peter with critical eyes. How dare He doubt what Jesus was saying about future events that would come to be??? It's so easy for us to believe in the miracle of the Resurrection because it's already happened. It's just like when people watch a football game and rebuke the coach for making that play. How dare he--it's not going to work. We know because we just watched it fail. Hindsight is 20-20. But how many of us do the same exact thing when it comes to the future miracle of Jesus's return? Sure we technically believe that Jesus is coming back. Sure we believe that it could be any moment of any day. But do we truly believe that? If we did then we'd live each moment of each day like it was about to happen in the twinkling of our eye. When we have the choice whether or not to tell that "white lie", we'd choose not to. When we have the choice to think that impure thought, we'd choose not to. When we have the choice to listen to that dirty joke, we'd choose not to. When we have the choice to murmur and complain, we'd choose not to. Why? Because we want to keep our hearts pure for Jesus. When we choose to sin, we are rebuking Jesus and denying His Truth that He can return at any point in time. You might say that's harsh; maybe it is. But that's exactly what Peter did and Jesus called him Satan.
     What really cried out to me in this passage was about gaining the world and losing your soul. Jesus says you must deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him. When we get saved, we do all three of these things. But often times, we put down our cross somewhere along the way and follow the world and our flesh. I know that I do this on a daily basis. As long as I'm consciously thinking of it, I'm carrying my cross around. But as soon as I start being like Peter and take my eyes off Christ, I start sinking back into the waves of the world. (I'm referring to when Jesus bid him to come walk on the water with Him.) It is so easy for me to get off-track. I know this is because of my sin-nature, but I should always have serving Jesus at the forefront of my mind. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness...." Matthew 6:33.
     Jesus says in order for a man to gain his life, he must lose it. This most definitely conflicts our sin nature. Our default is to look at the world as our unit of measurement. Success in the world often times means making money. Jesus says it is easier for a rich man to go through the eye of a needle than it is for him to enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:24). Sin = pleasure and pleasure is a good thing if you look at the world's standards. But Jesus says to put off the old man and his sinful pleasure. This is something I definitely struggle with. I find myself inadvertently trying to disprove verse 36 of this passage by trying to gain the world and save my soul. I want to experience the pleasures of this world and have the joy of being in God's will. It can't be done. We are not of this world; we are just passing through. Our entire purpose for being in this world is to exalt and worship God. Our lives are to be acts of living worship. I fall short of this on a daily basis. Matthew 6:24 says you cannot serve two masters--you will hate one and love the other. Revelation 3:16 says you must be hot or cold; you cannot be lukewarm because He will spew you out of His mouth. We must put on the new man and never take him off. Easier said that done, right? But God says His yoke is easy and His burden is light in Matthew 11:30.
     I hope this spoke to you as much as it did me!!! It didn't just speak to me--it shouted at me. :)