Category Archives: Oneness with God

Show Us the Father — The Concerns of God

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“But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.””
‭‭Mark‬ ‭8‬:‭33‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Today is Mark 8:22-38.

The Disciples didn’t get who Jesus was. They didn’t understand God’s plan. The Jewish people of Jesus’s time were looking for the Messiah, the one who would deliver them from their oppression. They had suffered greatly under the Roman Empire. Jesus steps onto the scene and does things that no one had ever seen, including healing the blind man at Bethsaida. (verse 25)

So Jesus asks His disciples as they are walking “on the way”, “who do people say that I am?” Peter answered correctly…”the Messiah”. But when Jesus tries to teach them about what is to come — His death. Peter rebuked Him.

Peter didn’t have in his mind “the concerns of God.” He didn’t see God’s bigger plan. His thoughts on the Messiah was that Jesus would be a conquering King… not death at the hands of the Romans. But God’s concerns weren’t an earthly kingdom. His concerns were His Heavenly Kingdom that is eternal, unchanging, and free of all the hardship and sadness we see in our world.

God’s ways are not our ways. His concerns are not ours. We cannot with our human minds truly understand the depths of love, joy, and peace our Heavenly Father has for us.

So the words of verses 34 – 36 seem odd to our own fleshly hearts and minds. 

“Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “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 and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”
‭‭Mark‬ ‭8‬:‭34‬-‭36‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Deny ourselves…take up our cross…lose my life…

These are the very things of the “concerns of God.” They are very important to Him.

As long as we are trying to live our best lives our way… after self and selfishness, we will not know Him. As long as we insist on our way instead of letting our old ways die daily on our own personal cross (a spiritual one), we will not experience His resurrected life living inside of us. As long as we insist on pursuing our life instead of losing it, we will never gain His life and live connected to Him.

Our mere “human concerns” will always lead us to having our way instead of Gods. God’s “concerns” — the things that are the most important to Him — are that we would know Him intimately. In order for that to happen, our concerns — the things that are the most important to us — must become His!

You Look Just Like Him — God’s Image Bearer

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“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.”‭‭ 1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

When I was in college, I was with a group of friends waiting to be seated at the Olive Garden. We were laughing and talking when a woman that I did not know came up to me and asked me, “Are you Jim Bergman’s daughter? You have to be. You look and act just like him.” It turns out she was my dad’s first cousin and knew him quite well. God created us in His image. His desire is for us to reflect Him, as I reflected my earthly dad at that restaurant. When people look at us, do they ask, “Are you God’s daughter? You have to be. You look and act just like Him?”  

God is a triune God. He is three distinct persons, but all completely one — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are also have three distinct parts— spirit, soul, and body. Each of these parts have a distinct function. Yet we are completely one. God’s intention for us was that all of us our whole being would be sanctified or “kept blameless” — reflect His character. Or in simple terms, we are to “look like our Heavenly Daddy.” 

How is this even possible? It is God’s plan. It is God’s work He does in us. It is accomplished through our deep and intimate relationship with Him. (More on this later.) 

For now, I want to leave you with this question:

Do I desire to be God’s girl reflecting my Heavenly Father to those I am around? If so, ask Him to change you more and more into what you were meant to be all along, a reflection of Him — His image bearer.