When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
Like Peter, I have seen extreme spiritual highs and lows almost back to back. I don't understand exactly why things happen that way. I'd much rather just have a constant, steady upwards progression, however slow it may be.
It's easy to get caught up in the negative, though. Every one of us is imperfect. Peter, the man who authoritatively declared Christ's divinity, who later boldly testified before the Sanhedrin, "We ought to obey God rather than men," who worked mighty miracles of healing and even raised people from the dead, had to endure one of the Savior's most stinging criticisms. If he can be called Satan by our Lord, and yet become the chief Apostle, surely we too can overcome our sins and become true and faithful servants of God. If He corrects us, it's evidence that He hasn't given up on us yet.
That may not make the correction any easier, but it gives me hope.
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