Why Do We Want Jesus?

Mark 8: 31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” (NIV)
Is there anything we want specifically from Jesus? God’s plan was for Jesus to suffer and die to pay for all our sins. That should be enough of a reward for any committed Christian. However, when Peter heard that Jesus was going to depart from him and the other disciples, I can only imagine the rebuke that Peter gave Jesus. Maybe Peter didn’t want Jesus to depart because Jesus had taken care of him, or he liked the honor of being one of Jesus’ disciples, or maybe he just wasn’t ready for his Master to leave. I think that Peter was rebuking Jesus out of selfish reasons. Yes, he didn’t want Jesus to die, but he wasn’t thinking of the worldwide impact. He was thinking out of his own desires.
We need to be careful that we don’t want Jesus out of our own selfishness. We can make the mistake of wanting Jesus because of what HE can give us. If that is the case, we want Him because of OUR will, and not God’s. We need to want Jesus because we love Him, and we want to fulfill His mission. There’s a world out there that needs to hear the Gospel. Many souls are dying every day without hope of eternal life. Let’s follow Jesus with love and not selfishness, and heed His commands this week.