The Difference a Few Days Can Make
Ask the people of Texas. Or those in Florida. Or the ones in all the areas of the raging wildfires. How long, how many days did it take before their lives were changed? I would suggest that the answer could even be shorter than days – maybe hours or even minutes.
Sunday morning, my son, Daniel, pointed out an instance in the life of one of Christ’s disciples where things changed in short order. In Matthew 16, we read of the great confession Peter made of Jesus being the Christ, “the Son of the living God” (verse 16). For that confession, Peter was praised and given a new name.
But look a little further to verse 21: “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” Now, I haven’t been able to track down the exact amount of time that the phrase “from that time” indicates. Most of what I read focused more on the fact that Jesus made the switch to speaking openly and plainly as to what was coming. And with that switch, Peter becomes concerned for his friend and teacher. In an attempt, perhaps to comfort Christ or protect those whose hopes were built on Him, Peter tells Christ not to speak that way. He goes so far as to “rebuke” Christ, saying “This shall never happen to you” (verse 22).
Now for what my son Daniel pointed out: Just 6 short verses, and either a few short days or hours, from being called “blessed” by Jesus, Peter is now called “Satan” (verses 17 & 23). What a difference! But what made the difference?
Peter changed his focus. When he declared Jesus to be the Christ, he was focused on Who Jesus was and what He was here to do. But when he was telling Jesus that this death on the cross should never happen to Him, he was playing into Satan’s hand. J.W. McGarvey points out in his book The Four-Fold Gospel that Peter was offering the same basic temptation that Satan had in Matthew 4. He writes: “He was unconsciously trying to dissuade Jesus from the death on which the salvation of the world depended, and this was working into Satan’s hand.”
What can we get from this consideration? What difference will we make in the coming days or hours? Things change in our lives quickly and often unexpectedly. But we can be prepared for those changes by keeping our eyes and our focus on Christ for He never changes.
May the storms, fires, and trials of life help us focus on the One with whom there is “no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17).
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will go strangely dim,
In the Light of His glory and grace.”
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AUTHOR: Amber Tatum
