²¹ From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.

²² But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”

²³ Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. ²⁵ If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. ²⁶ And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? ²⁷ For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds. ²⁸ And I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”

Matthew 16:21-28

Dear God, it is just so hard for us to understand, in our limited minds, that this life that we perceive with our five senses is just so small. So, so small. The room I see with my eyes right now as I sit here and write this prayer to you is probably only about 2% of what is really happening in this room. There are layers. There are manmade layers like radio waves moving through here that I cannot see. There are different bands of the light spectrum that I cannot see. There are sounds happening I cannot hear. There are smells. The list in practically infinite. Then there is the spiritual world. Are there angels and demons in here right now? How much are they messing (demons) and protecting (angels) even as I sit here right now.

And again, that’s just in this room. If I move outside of this room into the house? If I go outside? If I consider the world? I’m so ignorant. I’m so small. We all are. And yet we reach for power. We reach for political power. We reach for influence. And it’s probably out of fear. What is our fear driving us to do? exactly what Jesus warns against in verse 26: “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?” How many of us really make our moment-to-moment decisions based on our soul vs. our immediate power?

I read an article yesterday that said the Texas Education Agency is compelling public school students to read specific passages of the Bible. Frankly, for our society, I don’t like this, but I decided to go and see what twelve passages they had picked. One list by the Houston Chronicle said they would be required to read Jonah 1:1-5, 11-17, 2:10. First, if this is true (which I could not corroborate through the list the Texas Tribune provided), what is a teacher supposed to be teaching a Texas public school child through these verses? First, I have to wonder if the TEA even knows what the story of Jonah is all about. Do they know that Jonah is not considered to be a good prophet? That he’s not a good example? Even after the whale incident, he holds onto his bitterness. He yells at you for your forgiveness of the Assyrians (Ninevites) who had conquered Israel. The book is about your mercy and your desire to bring even these Assyrians into repentance and service to you. Does an elementary school teacher know these nuances going into teaching Jonah 1:1-5, 11-17, and 2:10? Is there going to be a prepared lesson plan that goes with this passage that helps the teacher explain that this passage is about the difference between bitterness and forgiveness?

So that makes me ask why the TEA is doing this, and it brings me back to this message from Jesus in Matthew 16. Fear. Fear we are losing the dominance of the “Christian” culture over society. So how are they going about establishing it? In exactly the opposite way Jesus did things: from the top down. Jesus was about serving, praying, persuading, and suffering. I heard someone say one time that those are the four tools he used during his life, and they are the only tools he left us. But our Christian culture seems to be wanting to go the way of the Spanish Inquisition, which lasted 350 years, but drove a bitterness towards the church that exists in Spain to this day. We think we know so much, but we’d do a lot better if Christians simply exhibited the fruits of the Spirit, loved our neighbors, and showed them how worshipping you and loving others changes lives.

Father, that was quite a little rant I just got on this morning. Maybe I got distracted and drifted from you, but I needed to process some of the things I was thinking after I read that article yesterday. We are such fools. And it’s fear and lack of faith that drives our foolishness. Help me to see at least a little of what you see today. Help me to love, at least a little, like you love. Help me to forgive. Help me to pray. Help me to serve. Help me to persuade. And give me a glad willingness to suffer if it will benefit your kingdom in any way.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen