17 And Jesus, aware of this, *said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? 18 HAVING EYES, DO YOU NOT SEE? AND HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR? And do you not remember, 19 when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They *said to Him, “Twelve.” 20 “When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they *said to Him, “Seven.” 21 And He was saying to them, “Do you not yet understand?” Mark 8:17-21 (NASB)
The mortification of sin has been a topic that we have looked at a great deal over the last several months. Why? It is vital for our Christian maturity to learn to walk in repentance and that requires that we learn how to mortify the sin(s) that cling close to us….
In this post we will take a closer look at a vital aspect of walking by faith. When Jesus rebuked Peter in Matthew 16 it was for having his focus on the things of men rather than the things of God. Because of that focus, Peter had actually rebuked Jesus for telling them about His upcoming crucifixion and resurrection. Peter told Jesus that he shouldn’t talk about things like that. Instead, he wanted Jesus to change His focus to that of his vision of who the Messiah was rather than on what our Saviour had been telling and showing them about Himself. What was Peter’s real problem? Why did he have the wrong “vision” of Jesus’ ministry? Peter’s problem was that his heart was hardened and, therefore, he had a case of spiritual blindness. Before we point our fingers at him let’s turn those fingers around and point them right back at ourselves. All of us have been there and many of us are still there. Not everyone’s faith is as strong as those whom the Lord has drawn into a Spirit-filled walk. Therefore, instead of condemning our weaker brothers and sisters we should come along side them and help them see the truth from God’s Word and show them the way to change their level of devotion to our Lord and submission to His Lordship.