Matthew 16:23, “But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, because you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.’
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We can easily become a stumbling block to the Lord when our minds are not set on what God is set on. When we obsess over our own desires over Christ’s, our own agenda instead of Christ’s will, and the affairs of this world rather than of Christ’s kingdom, we may actually be setting ourselves into a place of opposition against the Christ whom we love. Many Christians fall into this trap. The rule of 2 Timothy 2:4 must be applied and followed by each of us.
2 Timothy 2:4, “No one in military service gets entangled in matters of everyday life; otherwise he will not please the one who recruited him.”
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If we have entered into the active service of Christ, we must no longer be about Adam’s business but rather about bringing honor and glory to Christ. We must trust Him, believing that He is sovereign and that His plan is good and right even when it doesn’t make sense to us. Peter could not fathom in the moment that Christ might bring more good from His death than He could through His life, and yet those of us who have believed the gospel know that the Lord did exactly that. Had Peter’s will been followed here rather than Christ’s, none of us could be saved. The only way to avoid becoming a stumbling block to God is by yielding to Him, trusting His will and His ways over our own intuitions and inclinations. No matter how wise we think we have become, Jesus is greater in wisdom and in truth.
May His grace go with us, may the Holy Spirit empower us to live in accordance with Christ’s will.
-Pastor Nick
