“Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

I am amazed at how often we hear companies talk about the stumbling blocks that they perceive are stopping them from moving forward; regulations and policies, unknowns, lack of talent, financing, the Board, taxes, suppliers, etc.  But, really how many of those are true stumbling blocks or just reasons to complain?  Let’s put it this way, there are have been times that are tougher, issues that are bigger to overcome, and more reasons than there are now to not get ahead.  Those that see the positive sides and look at the negatives as only slight hurdles to be jumped successfully, make it and thrive.  When you hear people grumbling about the stumbling blocks, challenge them with now “why” they will get the company down, but “how” we can turn that into something positive.

When Peter thought he was doing the right thing, Jesus retorted strongly.  Jesus loved Peter and while He addressed Peter as Satan, it might have been that He was looking right through Peter and making a strong statement to the unseen and then, He brought it back to Peter by making sure that Peter knew he needed to get his mind right.  We don’t want to be stumbling blocks to anyone who is inquisitive about our faith or pursuing a Christ-like life.  We need to be sure that we have our mind on the things of God so that the things of the world don’t cloud or sway our words and actions. Start today with filling your mind with those things of God and hold onto them so that there isn’t any stumbling going on today!

Reference:  Matthew 16:23 (New Living Translation)