Key scripture – “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven…” From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but merely human concerns.” )Matthew 16:15 – 17, 21-23).

How ironic that Peter’s 20/20 vision clouded so quickly. Having identified Jesus as the Christ, Peter recoiled the moment Jesus spoke about suffering and death.

Peter was probably thinking, “How could the Man on whom I had pinned my hope talk about defeat? How could the Messiah save Israel by lying in a grave?”

Peter can hardly be faulted for failing to realize that the way to victory and to life would run straight through death. Like the rest of the Jews who were looking for Israel’s deliverance, Peter was guilty of trying to reshape Jesus into the Messiah he wanted, not the Messiah he needed. His failure to see that the main problem was not external dominance but the internal oppression of sin, made him like a doctor who performs cosmetic surgery when what a patient really needs is a quadruple bypass.

Jesus, the most perceptive of physicians, wasn’t interested in merely alleviating human suffering. He wanted his people to live forever and to do that, he was willing to lay down his life and let himself become their Savior.

I wonder how many of us make Peter’s mistake, even with the benefit of hindsight. We know that Jesus came to deliver us by dying on a cross and then rising from the dead. But do we realize that after having gone to such an extreme, Christ is not about to let us settle for the surface goods we so ardently desire?

Have you ever watched the television show about extreme makeovers. It’s astonishing to see what liposuction, plastic surgery, makeup, hair dye, and expensive clothing can do for people. But those transformations aren’t really all that extreme. After all, they don’t alter who people are under the skin.

Jesus, it would seem, specializes not in the quick fix but in the kind of extreme makeover that transforms us and the world from the inside. Such changes take time. Even though Christ blesses us in this life, His goals for us stretch far beyond it. Therefore, we will need to endure an extreme makeover by Jesus as He works on changing us on the inside through the trials in our life. He does this in order to transform us so that we learn obedience and how to have faith and trust in God and His promises.

Today, ask Christ for the grace to transform your mind so that you can begin to make his priorities yours. Then praise him for being the Messiah you need rather than merely the Messiah you want.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:1-2).

Pray this – Our Precious Heavenly Father, I praise and thank You that Your thoughts and Your ways are higher than ours. I thank Jesus for His willingness to suffer and die on the cross for our sins. Forgive me for the times that I have settled for less than what Christ desires for me. I offer my mind and body as a living sacrifice, that is holy and pleasing to You. I want to be transformed by the renewing of my mind. I want You to give me Your mind and heart so that my priorities are the same as Your priorities, so that I want what You want, so that Your Will is my will, and so that I am holy like Christ is Holy. Thank You for transforming me into the image of Christ.Thank You Father that Jesus is the Messiah, my Precious Redeemer. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.