“31 Then He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, be killed, and rise after three days. 32 He was openly talking about this. So Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.
33 But turning around and looking at His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan, because youre not thinking about God’s concerns, but man’s!””
Mark 8:31-33
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It always catches my attention that Peter, in one breath, is uttering something directly revealed to him by God and in the next is being rebuked by Jesus because His mind and heart had been so quickly turned to the flesh & its concerns.

Reading over this today, I was reminded just how quickly my own heart and mind can pivot from a God honoring attitude to one that worships self instead. Now, at this point, Peter did not have the indwelling of the Spirit, and so I cannot speak to what this situation would have played out like if he had, but even in the direct presence of Jesus, he was so quickly in two different places that a deeper look must be taken to examine why.

We all know that the Jews wanted a ‘right here, right now rescue us from the Romans’ Messiah. They wanted a king who would liberate them forever from under anyone’s thumb and bring about the returned rule of Israel and restore her to glory among the nations and powers of the world. That’s no surprise. And so the ‘suffering servant’ Messiah ideal was pushed aside for the desire to see this physical kingdom come into play.

Scripture was plain and clear on what needed to take place first, that the Messiah would suffer and die, carrying the sins of humanity as a sacrifice in our place. Then, later, He would rule and reign forever, both as Great High Priest and as King over all. So, we don’t wonder why Peter was of a divided mind and heart, but this sudden switch is just such a reminder that we can have our hearts so set on something that isn’t laid out in God’s plan, and be so passionate about it to tell Him He’s wrong in how He’s doing things.

“God! This isn’t supposed to happen this way!”
“God, I don’t think You know how badly I need this right now!”
“God, why are you doing this to me?”

And so many other questions that imply that God just doesn’t see what needs to be done in the right way and in the right time. The implication that His plan just isn’t cutting it…

We can be so close to Him in one moment, and then have that quick turn away to the -things- and priorities that matter most to our flesh, more so than our spirit and the heart of God. We must seek Him first, His Kingdom, His righteousness, and then (Matthew 6) God will provide for those things we need as a good father should.

Our call to GoLove others is a continued denial of self and a chasing after Him. It is a resignation of what we may have determined to be priority for what God says the real priority really is, and more often than I’d like to admit, my plans and His are not on the same page. My impatience, my pride, my ideas (see all that ‘me’ focus?) drive me rather than stillness and resting in Him, seeking His wisdom through prayer, meditation, in His Word and from Godly-counsel. We must all repent from that secondary mind that Peter exhibits here, and seek God’s leading instead if we are to be faithful witnesses for Him, seeking Him in truth.