Reading: Matthew 16:13-28

That’s the title of today’s Sunday School lesson (at least in Christian Light Publication’s quarterlies).

Here are some of my miscellaneous thoughts on the passage this morning.

“…Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” (17).

What I correctly discern in the Scriptures does not come from my own brain, mind, or thumb. God alone can show His ways to me. (Important note: He frequently uses other people in that process!)

“…The gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (18).

God intends the Church to be triumphant! But not merely in a defensive way (“We held off another attack from the enemy.”) but also in a take-the-initiative way (“We took the battle to the enemy and won!”).

Though my family isn’t the Church, it is part of it. Somehow, that thought in the context of this verse gave me assurance and hope this morning.

“…Thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men” (23).

Just that quickly, Peter went from correct discernment to flawed discernment. Let that be a lesson to me!

Another lesson: Is my appetite set for the things of God or the things of me(n)? Let me learn to taste and savor the things of God!

And another question: Would Jesus make that statement to me? to my wife? to my children?

And what can I do as a husband and father to develop and cultivate Godly appetites and tastes in myself and in my family? (And what do I do at this stage when I see I have fallen short in earlier stages?)

“…If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (24).

Ah, yes — that’s what it takes to be a Christian.

So…are you one?

If not, why not?

“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (26).

I’ve been asking myself that more often.

And what shall a man give in exchange for the souls of his family?

And what shall a man’s children give in exchange for their souls?

Here’s what I wrote earlier on this Sunday School lesson: Confessing Jesus as Lord.