A rebuke impresses a person of discernment more than a hundred lashes to a fool. An evil person is bent only on rebellion. A merciless ruler will be sent against him. ~Proverbs 17:10-11 (Peter learned this lesson.)
From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of man.” ~Matthew 16:21-23
My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son. ~Hebrews 12:5B-6 & Proverbs 3:11-12
Poor Peter. Aren’t you glad he’s in the Bible? I sure am. I think that if I had been with Jesus and heard him talking about how he was going to be treated badly and then die, I would have been tempted to blurt out the same thing, “Lord, no! You’re wrong! That isn’t going to happen! After all, You’re Messiah! That’s not the way it goes!” Yep, I would have been right beside Peter. I probably still would have let Peter do the talking, but I would have been in full agreement with what he said!
When Jesus then accused him of basically being the conduit of satan’s words, that had to have been a big “ouch” for Peter. Here, he thought he was being encouraging. To be told by the Master, “Be quiet,” must have taken Peter aback greatly. “A rebuke impresses a person of discernment.” In fact, Peter was rebuked quite often by Jesus.
There was the time on the water when he was chided for his lack of faith. There was the time in the upper room when he was warned to be careful because satan wanted to “sift him like wheat,” and that Peter would deny that he even knew Jesus. Even in the moment Jesus was being arrested, he took the time to rebuke Peter and tell him, “Put away the sword!”
God bless Peter! He kept trying and Jesus kept correcting. But Peter must have taken the rebukes to heart because he also kept learning, so much so that he became the spokesman for the fledgling church on the day of Pentecost. He took the rebukes from a loving master, and instead of being offended, he turned them into course corrections and grew up into the leader Jesus knew he could be.
“An evil person is bent only on rebellion. A merciless ruler will be sent against him.” A fool does not understand a rebuke and an evil person doesn’t care. Both a fool and an evil person will continue pursuing their own agenda no matter how hard you may try to reason with them, correct them, or guide them. They are bent on destruction. The only means of stopping them is another such as themselves.
When the Lord corrects, rebukes, and disciplines, he is letting you know how much He values you and cares about you. He believes in you, that you are capable of becoming more than you are now. He wants you to reach your full potential for Him. It is a good thing to be rebuked and disciplined by the Lord. I’m sure that Peter didn’t enjoy being rebuked in front of all the others so often, but he didn’t give up, because he trusted Jesus. Peter valued Jesus’ love more than his own pride. He would keep trying and Jesus would keep correcting until Peter got it right.
We need to be more like Peter. We should not give up and become discouraged when the Lord brings course corrections our way. He is letting us know that He knows that we are trying to please Him. We aren’t being rebellious on purpose, and our Lord knows this. We only lose when we allow rebukes and discipline to discourage us so that we give up. We have to keep trying until the Lord tells us to stop. He will never give up on us. So we can’t quit either.
Prayer: Good morning Lord! It’s another day, containing moments of choices and opportunities to please you with my obedience and dedication. I want to do well. And if I make a mistake, may I accept your rebuke and discipline as acts of love. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Song: Get Up, Up Again
From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of man.” ~Matthew 16:21-23
My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son. ~Hebrews 12:5B-6 & Proverbs 3:11-12
Poor Peter. Aren’t you glad he’s in the Bible? I sure am. I think that if I had been with Jesus and heard him talking about how he was going to be treated badly and then die, I would have been tempted to blurt out the same thing, “Lord, no! You’re wrong! That isn’t going to happen! After all, You’re Messiah! That’s not the way it goes!” Yep, I would have been right beside Peter. I probably still would have let Peter do the talking, but I would have been in full agreement with what he said!
When Jesus then accused him of basically being the conduit of satan’s words, that had to have been a big “ouch” for Peter. Here, he thought he was being encouraging. To be told by the Master, “Be quiet,” must have taken Peter aback greatly. “A rebuke impresses a person of discernment.” In fact, Peter was rebuked quite often by Jesus.
There was the time on the water when he was chided for his lack of faith. There was the time in the upper room when he was warned to be careful because satan wanted to “sift him like wheat,” and that Peter would deny that he even knew Jesus. Even in the moment Jesus was being arrested, he took the time to rebuke Peter and tell him, “Put away the sword!”
God bless Peter! He kept trying and Jesus kept correcting. But Peter must have taken the rebukes to heart because he also kept learning, so much so that he became the spokesman for the fledgling church on the day of Pentecost. He took the rebukes from a loving master, and instead of being offended, he turned them into course corrections and grew up into the leader Jesus knew he could be.
“An evil person is bent only on rebellion. A merciless ruler will be sent against him.” A fool does not understand a rebuke and an evil person doesn’t care. Both a fool and an evil person will continue pursuing their own agenda no matter how hard you may try to reason with them, correct them, or guide them. They are bent on destruction. The only means of stopping them is another such as themselves.
When the Lord corrects, rebukes, and disciplines, he is letting you know how much He values you and cares about you. He believes in you, that you are capable of becoming more than you are now. He wants you to reach your full potential for Him. It is a good thing to be rebuked and disciplined by the Lord. I’m sure that Peter didn’t enjoy being rebuked in front of all the others so often, but he didn’t give up, because he trusted Jesus. Peter valued Jesus’ love more than his own pride. He would keep trying and Jesus would keep correcting until Peter got it right.
We need to be more like Peter. We should not give up and become discouraged when the Lord brings course corrections our way. He is letting us know that He knows that we are trying to please Him. We aren’t being rebellious on purpose, and our Lord knows this. We only lose when we allow rebukes and discipline to discourage us so that we give up. We have to keep trying until the Lord tells us to stop. He will never give up on us. So we can’t quit either.
Prayer: Good morning Lord! It’s another day, containing moments of choices and opportunities to please you with my obedience and dedication. I want to do well. And if I make a mistake, may I accept your rebuke and discipline as acts of love. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Song: Get Up, Up Again
Comments
Post a Comment