THE NEED TO BE RIGHT
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 concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
Matthew 16:22-23 (NIV)
Doesn’t this verse seem a little intense? Get behind me, Satan. This is one of Jesus' disciples, after all. First, we should never assume we know what God is doing in the life of a fellow believer. Sometimes, God needs to say some harsh things so that a person will wake up, and we often try to fix what God might be trying to heal. Simply put, let God be God and trust what He’s doing with each person.
Jesus isn’t saying Peter is Satan, but He’s operating subtly with something demonic and evil, which is pride. Pride is the need to be right. Pride assumes we also know best. Self-confidence is good, but Spirit-confidence is better. One way to measure pride is how many questions you ask versus statements you make. In the Gospels, Jesus asks many more questions than He answers. To be precise, Jesus asks 307 questions. He is asked 183, of which He only answers 3.
I confess I need to grow in this area. A counselor once told me, Bryan, you just need to become curious about others. We spend so much time judging, being afraid, or trying to convince people of certain things. Just get curious about why they said what they said. Take an interest in them.
Humble people ask questions. Prideful people have all the answers. Humble people ask for feedback. Prideful people only give feedback. Our political, spiritual and individualistic/consumeristic culture has created a culture of pride. Everyone has the answers, but no one listens.
Social media is a prime example of this. Do your posts look and sound like Jesus? A subtle and demonic evil of our culture is the need to be right. This is precisely what’s happening in the passage above. Peter needs to be right. He needs things to happen exactly how He wants. This is pride, and we have to be aware. The need to control everything in your world is a form of pride. You aren’t trusting God to do things His way. This is why Jesus says, Get behind me, Satan. He’s saying Satan has the need to be right, the need to be in control, the need to have everything go his way. A follower of Jesus is surrendered. Remember this. Invite God into this.
APPLICATION: Spend more time asking questions today than giving answers.
PRAYER: Ask the spirit to help you listen well to others. Do you spend more time in prayer, speaking or listening? Ask God what’s on His heart. Ask God what’s giving Him joy or what He’s grieving. You may be surprised to find that a whole new life of prayer emerges.
“… Our Father in heaven…” Matthew 6:9b (NLT)
- What do You want to say to me today as my Father?
“… may Your name be kept holy.” Matthew 6:9c (NLT)
- What do You want to reveal to me about Your power today?
“May Your Kingdom come soon.” Matthew 6:10a (NLT)
- Help me make Your priorities my priorities today.
“Give us today the food we need,” Matthew 6:11 (NLT)
- Is there anything specific You want me to do with my time or the people I’m around today?
“and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us” Matthew 6:12 (NLT)
- Reveal to me anyone I need to forgive or ask for forgiveness.
“And don’t let us yield to temptation…” Matthew 6:13a (NLT)
- Is there anywhere I’m vulnerable to temptation?