And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise from the dead. And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s purposes, but on man’s.”

Have you ever meant well with your actions but ended up hurting someone or yourself? Our intentions can sometimes be misleading, no matter how pure we believe they are. When we “go with our gut” or even take time to think things through, we still make some mistakes along the way. Peter, after having a moment of a clear insight into who Jesus was, as the Christ, started to build his own ideas about what that meant. We want the best for those we love, and often we view the best as the most comfortable and prosperous path. This is our idea of good, but God is looking at the bigger picture. Jesus knew the full plan of redemption and knew that what was good did not necessarily mean what was comfortable.

So often we struggle like Peter: We understand that Jesus is the Christ. We understand that title that He holds. We know we should surrender to His way, but we struggle when that looks different from what we expect. The way of servanthood Jesus exemplified goes directly against our nature. The life of trust and dependence on God is foreign and scary when it is filled with unknowns.

In all of this, we need to be reminded of the truth that Peter needed in that moment: Jesus is God, and He has authority, power, and expertise in things that we don’t and can’t understand. God’s definition of good and our definition of good are not the same. We are looking for comfort and ease, and He is bringing about redemption and restoration. We think getting by on our own is success, and He defines success as dependence on Him. It is time to claim Christ in name and follow Him in the way He calls us to, not in the way we want to go.

• When has your way been different from God’s?
• How have you seen the way your definition of good is different from God’s?
• Pray and ask God to grow your trust in His way over your own.