Put down your weapon!

I absolutely love when common Bible stories leap off of the page and strike me! This morning I was reading about Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. I came to the part where Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest. Jesus rebuked him sharply for his actions.

As I read it I was tending to agree with Peter. He was defending His Lord. Why did Jesus rebuke him for such an action?

I sat there staring at the page and the Lord began to convict me about the area of incorrect motives. I started to hypothesize the motivation that Peter may have had for acting in such a hasty manner. Was it not a lack of eternal perspective?

He has built his life around Jesus and being His disciple. Now this reality was being taken from him. His first reaction was to throw up his means of defense, kick and scream, and try to make the change not occur. I then understood; it was something that I had done many times myself.

I put my security in something other than obeying God’s perfect will. When I see it being taken from me I throw up my hands and howl. I fight for it. I scream, “No God! It will not work out this way.” But imagine what would have happened if Peter had been given permission to fight off the entire fleet of soldiers who came for Jesus? He would have saved His life and Christ would never have been the perfect sacrifice for us.

God knows better than I. He justly rebukes me when I start to fight for my rights and hold onto things the way I want them. The change looks awful at first. What good could come from this King dying on a cross? What was going on?? But oh, the eternal weight of glory that came because of His death! Because of Him, death and hell have no power over us. We are free. We can know Christ. We can learn to love Him. We can spend eternity with Him!

Accept the changes that seemly wholly and completely painful. Faith is being persuaded that God knows best.