In today's Gospel we see an exchange between Jesus and his disciples. He first asks them who the people say He is and then wants to know who they say He is.
This question has me thinking many things. First, who am I? Am I who people think I am? Do people see who I really am, what I stand for, and what I believe? Why don't they? What prevents me from being who God created and called me to be? Am I living out my faith? Are they looking at me through their own eyes, or through God's? How do I see and look at the people around me? Do I see them as man does or as God does? Naturally, I am not God, but can't I try to look at people more through His eyes? Don't I need to do better than I am? Do I judge and predetermine what I think other's are worth?
Peter knew who Jesus was, not on his own, but because God revealed it to him. Peter didn't determine who Jesus was based on what others around him thought and said, He listened to God!
Do we look to God for clarity and to really look at people? Do we ask him to open our hearts to what He wants us to understand and see? Do we look at people based on His standards or our own human ones?
"You are not judging by God's standards but by man's" ~ Matthew 16:23b (NABRE)
So much of what is wrong with the world today is because we have pushed God so far out of the picture that we no longer seek Him. We pushed him so far away that we stopped looking at the world, people and situations the way He does and the way He wants us to.
We have allowed the world to dictate how we should think and feel about various topics and ideas. We have allowed the world to dictate what is right and what is wrong.
I keep thinking over and over about 1 Corinthians 6:12. I read it not too long ago and for some reason I can't get it out of my head. God must be trying to tell me something!
"Everything is lawful for me, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is lawful for me, but I will not let myself be dominated by anything."
This scripture has been one I have clung to, as of late, when it comes to my nutrition. Just because I "can" eat something, doesn't mean I should! This is true with so many things in our life. Just because we are able to do something (the world or even our laws say it's ok), doesn't mean we should!
It is time we stop compromising and listening to what the world says is ok and what the world deems right or wrong and look back to the Life Giver! God lays right and wrong out for us very clearly throughout all of scripture. In case that wasn't enough, He sent Jesus to clarify it for us and be the perfect example!
We need to wake up and call on God. We need to drawn near to Him and look to Him in every situation. We need to start looking at people through His eyes and see their hearts. We need to see people the way He does and not as the world wants us to.
What standards are you judging by?
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