Quality of Heart

In answer Simon Peter said:  ¨You are the Christ, the son of the living God.¨ Matthew 16:16 (Reference Bible)

When we consider certain people in the Bible some characters stand out.  Peter was just this sort of person.  Others are mentioned in the stories of Jesus´ life here on earth, but as we read we note something special about this particular follower.

Before Peter met Christ it seems that he was just a humble fisherman.  But Jesus saw something special about Peter and went out of His way several times bringing attention to the fact.  But have you ever stopped to wonder just what it was Jesus saw in him?

It is easy to dismiss the subject and say that he was a remarkable man or extremely responsible and Jesus needed a man like that to lead His followers when He left them.  However, in matters of the spirit, things are usually deeper and more carefully designed than our simple off-handed response.

Hearts and souls that would belong to Jesus are like precious jewels.  They are carefully selected and their eternal plan was connived long before the foundations of the planet.  So when we consider a person for their usefulness to God, we must know that God has seen into the heart of that person and matched what He sees exactly to the task He has prepared for each one of us.

To look further into the account of Peter, we see that He was so taken up by what He was witnessing of Jesus, all that He said and did, that He was moved even more than others around him who witnessed these same things.  When Peter saw His savior walking on water, he was moved to go out to Him.  When Jesus asks who people were saying He was, Peter did not hesitate to step out in faith and state He was the very Son of God in heaven.

If you and I can see clearly the fact that Peter withheld any reserve and threw himself more fully on his belief of who and what Jesus was, then we should also be able to imagine what Jesus could see as He can see clearly all the things inside a man´s heart.

There are those who hold the belief that the degree of closeness we have with Jesus Christ is in direct relation to how close we need to be.  This means that if a person does not put much effort in knowing Jesus personally, it is impossible for that person to have much real success in his or her endeavors.  Likewise, the person who goes further out of some deep bent within their souls and spends more time finding the correct state of heart to draw close to Jesus in a loving relationship, this person is more likely to come to know Jesus in a more real sense.

When we consider Peter and what Jesus had to say to him in Matthew 16 verses 13 to 20, it might bring to light something of what Jesus could see in the heart of this man.  Obviously Jesus was pleased to see that Peter had opened his heart inside to the point where God the Father was able to reveal these truths to him.

Dear Father in heaven, we cannot see clearly the true state of our own hearts.  This is something that You can see and therefore we would come to You to find adjustment.  We have noted that You saw something special in the heart of Your servant Peter and were please to reveal Your spiritual secrets.  The result was a closeness to Your Son Jesus Christ that we too would like to somehow share.  Please take a close look into our hearts, reveal what you can see there to us and make any adjustments you see fit to make.  We would love to draw closer to Jesus and if that means needing Him more than before or more than the next guy, then give us whatever help we need.  Fill us please with a raging fire of desire that burns to be close and know you more.

In Your name we pray,

Amen