Walking With Jesus: It's Not Difficult to be Satanic

Walking With Jesus: A Study Through Mark
What follows is what I feel Jesus is teaching me as I read through the Gospel of Mark

who's the devil?! maybe ... he's you.

It's Not Difficult To Be Satanic
"Jesus began to tell [the disciples] that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected ... as He talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand Him for saying such things. Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples then reprimanded Peter: 'Get away from me Satan!" He said, "You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's" 
--Mark 8:31-33


Me and Deb had just gotten back from a youth retreat. We plopped down our bags, exhausted from the long and busy weekend. And in the span of two minutes, I was an incredible jerk to my wife. Just ... terribly mean. and cruel. It was so radically bad, that in the midst of argument or what have you, Deb finally said to me, "WHO ARE YOU?! Cause you're not my husband. You're ... you're someone else."


It was then I realized ... I was someone else. I was Satan.


Now before you take out the torch and pitchforks, I don't mean I transformed into Satan, or was possessed by Satan or even a demonic spirit. I mean it in the same sense in which Peter was rebuked. It seems a little harsh as you read Mark 8 and Jesus verbally lashes out at a guy who didn't want his loving master to die. but there it is, Jesus pauses after Peter's reprimand to gaze at his disciples who are attentively watching and thinking the same thing: "Jesus, why are you saying you're gonna die? You're going to be king. Why are you saying you're gonna die and suffer?"
And Jesus answers Peter and the disciples thoughts with passion, grace, truth and with particular poignancy: "GET BEHIND ME SATAN!!"


for Peter didn't have God's point of view, Peter had his own. Peter was selfish for Jesus' physical presence and earthly reign. It was almost like the second temptation for Jesus I imagine. Instead of Satan, this time Peter was the one tempting Jesus to have power and authority and not give up anything and not die. I'm sure it must have been tempting for Jesus, to think about not being crucified, not undergoing the worst possible pain and suffering and suffocation before you die a terrible death rejected by those you love, and being completely alone. 


But Jesus didn't give in. He rebuked Peter for thinking like Satan. For having a human point of view instead of God's point of view. For being selfish instead of selfless. For looking out for his own interests instead of the interests of others. For not thinking about God's will or plan or kingdom, but thinking instead about what he wants ... without regard to the consequences. Peter was doing what I was doing when me and Deb got back from the youth retreat. We were both thinking and acting selfishly and humanly and stupidly. and that's a big problem. a bigger problem than i think we as Christians often give it credit for ...


because essentially, i think what Jesus is teaching me in this chapter is that it's not difficult to be satanic. 


for to be satanic is simply to have a very human point of view.
a very human nature characteristic behavior
devoid of God's Word ingrained in our hearts or on our lips. 


to be satanic, is to not think like God. And I believe there are many times where I don't think like God.
Where I worry.
where my expectations are not being fulfilled in my job.
or my marriage
or my financial situation.
when i'm not reading scripture. not praying. and all there is left is me. me. me. me. and Jesus. and my wife: well, they take the wayside.


and deb looks at me and says with tears in her eyes "who are you?"
and Jesus looks at me and whispers with tears in His eyes "you know"
and as I scrawl on a journal that five-letter name. and pray that he would get behind me. repent that his thoughts would not be my thoughts and his ways not my ways. and a pray and seek forgiveness from my wife and from my God and with godly sorrow I take up the scripture anew to have a mind that is no longer in possession of the devil.
but a mind that is taken captive, is laid hold of, is stayed on, possessed by and centered on Jesus Christ. 


it's far too easy to be satanic and bring the character of the devil into our homes and families through the medium of our own bodies and actions and thoughts and words. 
May we not think like Satan. 
But think like Christ.
and so ... act like Him.