Scripture
“Whoever wants to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”

Observation
Jesus begins to speak of his coming suffering, death and resurrection. Peter rebukes him, but Jesus tells him “Get behind me Satan!”

To live we must put our lives aside. There is no point gaining the whole world if we lose our soul in the process.

The kingdom is coming. Jesus will return in glory and kingdom values rather than worldly values will dominate.

Application
Peter quickly reverts from the revelation that Jesus is the Messiah to ordinary human thinking.

The ways of God are not naturally discerned by our minds. Often God works through ways that are contrary to what we expect, or at least parallel to our ways. We need the revelation that comes from an intimate relationship with Jesus in order to discern his ways.

Like Peter we find it too easy to revert to our own forms of wisdom, thinking that God should behave in ways that conform to our expectations and beliefs.

God's ways are not our ways. We must listen to what He is saying rather than pre-empt Him.

Prayer
Lord, help me to be still and know that you are God. Help me to be alert to your Spirit and awake to your revelations. Amen.