As we approach “Good Friday” perhaps the following reminder from Scripture is a healthy one for Christ followers… (Let the scene described play itself out in your imagination…)
“And He (Jesus) began to teach them (His disciples) that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said to him, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.’
“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’” (Mark 8:31–38 ESV)
I believe Jesus was genuinely concerned about the impact of Peter’s words – his protest of the teaching of Jesus about the necessity of “the cross” – on other Christ-followers (i.e. disciples). Point? A doctrine of self-preservation is dangerous to authentic discipleship!
Coffee With The Lord 