Matthew 16:23-27 NIV “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.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.” https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.16.23-27.NIV
The need of the hour is for Christians to follow Jesus and not satan. The difference between following Jesus and satan is the purpose for which we live our lives. The satan follower is self-oriented and pursues human concerns, primarily wealth and security from money and position. These people do not have in mind the things of God but have instead fallen before Satan, worshipping him, and so he has provided the things that keep them from worshipping Jesus as Lord. This worship is not the singing of praise in Church but the daily pursuit, worry, effort, and desire of either the things of this world or for true worshippers of God, the kingdom of God upon earth as it is in heaven. Christians who follow Jesus deny themselves, they die to their agendas, and instead give their talent and treasure to the work of God in order to extend the glory of God upon the earth. True worshippers of Jesus obey Jesus’ command to make disciples, seeking the salvation of everyone they know and even those they don’t know, while teaching obedience to everything Jesus commands, even while living in obedience to those commands. God will reward true Christians in Jesus, the Judge of all humanity, for the eternal fruit their lives produced in this temporary world, while those who worshipped Satan in this world by working for the things of this world will watch those things burn with this world when Jesus returns to recreate His eternal heaven and earth. Eternal reward is for those who produce eternal fruit, but all those who fail to produce such fruit, demonstrating they were true worshippers of God, will be cast into the everlasting fire where moth and rust destroy.
RUN TODAY’S PLAY: Think about living with more eternal purpose then take one step toward that goal.
