[A
Monday / Wednesday / Friday Devotional Feature of the First Road Blog]
These
were spectacular times. The future apostles had been sent on their
first on-the-job training mission and they did some pretty extraordinary stuff. Then they helped host a
miracle banquet. After that Peter
spoke for all of them when he declared his certainty that Jesus was the
Messiah. Not long after that, Jesus took him, along with James and John, to a
special “trailer” for the coming Kingdom. But then something began to go
horribly wrong. Something which should be remembered when we study the events
of Jesus’ last weeks – something which should make us see yellow flags when
God grants successes in life.
Success
can become one of the most deceptive platforms for failure. God warned us, a
man is tested by the praise he receives. That’s why he told us to
let others praise us. But that’s tricky. Silence is difficult when we
hunger for praise; and it can result in seeking surrogates – others we can
train to speak for us. And that can set us up to become a victim of flattery.
In
the heady atmosphere of success “a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be the greatest.” It
began inside and built up steam until it broke out into overt self-promotion. By
the time a larger group exulted, “Lord,
even the demons are subject unto us in your name,” us had become the key word, and In your name carried about as much thoughtful importance as In Jesus
Name does tacked on to many of our contemporary prayers.
From
this point on they
did not understand his core message. They were unteachable and, therefore,
unprepared. The fact that they were afraid
to ask may relate to the fear we feel when we suspect the answer will cut
across the agenda of our heart.
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