Reflective Bible Study

As we continue our journey through Matthew’s gospel, we come to a passage that is often split into two sections, but one that is very fascinating when we look at it as a whole. In the first part of this passage, Peter, the most outspoken disciple, is praised, while in the second part of this passage, Jesus calls Peter out as Satan.

Let’s read about what happened and draw out some things we can learn from what is shared. Like all of our passages for this “Year in Matthew”, our passage for this episode comes from Matthew’s gospel, chapter 16, and we will read it from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 13, Matthew tells us that:

¹³ Jesus went to the territory near the town of Caesarea Philippi, where he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

¹⁴ “Some say John the Baptist,” they answered. “Others say Elijah, while others say Jeremiah or some other prophet.”

¹⁵ “What about you?” he asked them. “Who do you say I am?”

¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

¹⁷ “Good for you, Simon son of John!” answered Jesus. “For this truth did not come to you from any human being, but it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸ And so I tell you, Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock foundation I will build my church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven; what you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and what you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”

²⁰ Then Jesus ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Pausing briefly, this is where most people stop reading. However, if we continue on, we discover something almost humoring.

Continuing in verse 21, Matthew tells us:

²¹ From that time on Jesus began to say plainly to his disciples, “I must go to Jerusalem and suffer much from the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. I will be put to death, but three days later I will be raised to life.”

²² Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “God forbid it, Lord!” he said. “That must never happen to you!”

²³ Jesus turned around and said to Peter, “Get away from me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my way, because these thoughts of yours don’t come from God, but from human nature.”

²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you want to come with me, you must forget yourself, carry your cross, and follow me. ²⁵ For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for my sake, you will find it. ²⁶ Will you gain anything if you win the whole world but lose your life? Of course not! There is nothing you can give to regain your life. ²⁷ For the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his deeds. ²⁸ I assure you that there are some here who will not die until they have seen the Son of Man come as King.”

In this passage, we find a ton of things we could focus in on, but to keep things simple, let’s focus on just two big ideas, with one or both of these ideas being things you may not have thought of before.

The first of these ideas is Jesus’ compliment to Peter. While a casual reading of Jesus’ statement might make it seem like Jesus elevates Peter’s status to being a rock that God’s church is built on, there is an interesting twist of words that expands Jesus’ compliment to include Peter, while also being much bigger.

Verse 18 includes Jesus statement: “And so I tell you, Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock foundation I will build my church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it.” In this statement, Peter is compared with a rock, and then a rock foundation is where Jesus builds His church. While I’ve heard the original Greek language contrasts the idea of Peter being a pebble with the rock foundation being a boulder or a mountain-side, I like the way this translation compares these ideas.

In Jesus’ compliment, He recognizes Peter’s contribution, which is simply proclaiming a truth that Peter could only have learned from God the Father, and this truth makes the rock foundation that God’s church is built on. According to this translation, Peter’s rock contribution, combined with many other small rock contributions make up the huge rock foundation that God’s church is built on. This rock foundation is the truth that Peter proclaimed. Peter responded to Jesus’ question by proclaiming that: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

It is this truth that God’s church is built on, and when Peter makes this proclamation, He is reinforcing God’s church and God’s truth. When we make this proclamation, we are reinforcing God’s truth and God’s church!

The second big idea in this passage is Jesus’ big insult towards Peter. Just a few verses later, Jesus pulls the disciples aside and tries to warn them about what was waiting for them when they reached Jerusalem. Jesus tells them that He would suffer at the hands of the religious leaders, be put to death, and then be raised to life three days later. When I read this event, I wonder if Peter completely missed the last words in Jesus’ statement and that He stopped hearing Jesus’ words at the details about Jesus’ upcoming death.

Is Peter’s thinking really that crazy? Most people seem to blindly side with Jesus in judging Peter, but if you were walking around with Someone you firmly believed to be God, and you believed God to be immortal, which is another way of saying that they cannot die, if this Person told you they were going somewhere to die, would that sound crazy to you?

On top of this, the dominant understanding of prophecy was that the Messiah who God would send would last forever, and lasting forever doesn’t really happen when one has died.

I am pretty certain that Peter, and most of the rest of the disciples, either didn’t hear Jesus’ promise that at the end of the three days, He would be raised back to life, or they simply didn’t know what to think of it and perhaps forgot about it until after crucifixion weekend. This is because we don’t find any of the disciples eagerly looking forward to Jesus’ resurrection on the Sunday following His death. Instead, the disciples are hiding and likely trying to strategically plan their exit from the city.

However, Jesus understands prophecy, and He understood that death and resurrection were in His future. The big thing I can learn from Peter’s challenge is that regardless of whether I understand prophecy or how the Bible describes future events, my understanding is only as good as my willingness to be open to what God is continually revealing. If I close my mind to what God wants to teach me, then I will ultimately be like the disciples who missed out on the best warning they had regarding the events of crucifixion weekend. The disciples had every opportunity to know what would happen, but they were caught believing the traditional belief of the Messiah, and a belief that the Messiah could not experience death.

I don’t think Peter’s thought was crazy, but the motivation behind it was opposite of God’s plan, and this opposition was what Jesus challenged Peter on. It is crazy to think that God would die for humanity, but this truth is one of the biggest reasons Jesus came!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally and purposefully seek God first and place your hope, your faith, your trust, and your belief in Jesus and what He accomplished for you. Choose to be open to what God wants to teach you and openly proclaim the truth that Jesus is God’s Messiah and that He is God’s Son!

Also, intentionally pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Through a personal relationship with God, we can learn and know what God wants to teach us and when we are open to God’s teaching, we will avoid the traps that even the disciples fell in when they refused to accept Jesus’ words for the common understanding of prophecy at that point in history.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or stray from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue looking at the events in Jesus’ life, and the big truths Jesus taught through the eyes of Luke’s gospel, we come to a place where Jesus realizes that many of those following Him might be doing so simply because they wanted to be near someone famous, but that their hearts were not dedicated to God.

To challenge those present on whether they are truly ready to be followers, we discover a very strong message Jesus shares while large crowds were following Him.

Our passage for this podcast episode is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 14, and we will read it from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 25, Luke tells us:

²⁵ Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶ “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

²⁸ “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? ²⁹ For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, ³⁰ saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

³¹ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. ³³ In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

³⁴ “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? ³⁵ It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.

“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

In this passage, Jesus shares a very strong message to the large crowd following Him. I suspect that many people in this large crowd wanted to be near Jesus because they enjoyed seeing Him silence the Pharisees, because they enjoyed seeing the miracles, and because they could sense God’s love for them in Him.

However, I also suspect that this large crowd was primarily filled with people who liked Jesus for all the good He was doing, but they really weren’t committed to Him in any significant sense of the word. You could say these people were followers of Jesus, but they really weren’t committed to Him.

To those in the crowd who were simply following Jesus because the times were good, Jesus challenges them with some pretty harsh statements like: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.” “Whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” And “those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples” (verses 26-27, 33).

Everything in Jesus’ challenge to the crowd speaks to a level of commitment. In order to be true disciples of Jesus, He must be more than simply first in our lives. True disciples will filter their lives through Jesus, and not the other way around.

On the surface, this passage seems to have Jesus tell those present to hate their family, hate their life, and pick up a cross of suffering simply to follow Him. If someone wanted to turn Jesus’ message into a hostile message that ostracized, or excluded individuals, this might be a message one could use. On the surface, one might think following Jesus means turning into a hate-filled hermit.

However, when I read this message Jesus shares, I am challenged by His words because if following Jesus does not have much of a commitment, then following Jesus doesn’t have much value. A low commitment relationship has little value. The more committed a relationship is, the more valuable it is – especially when we are talking about a relationship with God!

While Jesus likely pushed many in the crowd away with this message, those who stayed demonstrated a willingness to commit to Jesus’ message. I don’t believe a surface reading of the hate statements in this passage are an accurate picture of the people God wants us to be. Instead, Jesus is looking for disciples who will follow Him even when their families, their friends, their coworkers, and anyone else in their lives think they are crazy.

Jesus challenges everyone throughout history to count the cost. Making the decision to follow Jesus has a high cost in this life because following Jesus runs counter to every direction culture wants to pull us. However, when we count the cost whether it is worth following Jesus, the only way the cost makes sense is when we look at what Jesus gives us in the future and what Jesus has already given to us in our past. Jesus gave His life for humanity; He promises eternal life for those who have decided to ally their lives with His!

Deciding to follow Jesus might mean that friends, family, or others might decide to distance themselves from us. When this happens, understand that this is just as much their decision as it is yours. However, remember that when we give up something in this life, God is ready to bless us in ways we can’t really begin to imagine or understand.

Many people living today call themselves Christians or followers of Jesus, but they aren’t really that committed to Him. They are followers of Jesus because things are going good in their lives at the moment. However, being committed means that we are dedicated to Jesus whether things in our lives go our way or whether our lives become hard. Being a disciple of Jesus means sticking with God even if our lives feel like the Old Testament man Job who lost everything.

Deciding to be a disciple of Jesus is not an easy decision, but it is a significant one. Deciding to be a disciple of Jesus might mean that we simply follow Him when times are good, but it also means that we stick with Him when times are not good, and following Jesus allows God to use us to teach the world about Himself.

True disciples will filter their lives through Jesus, and not the other way around. True disciples don’t hate people because Jesus didn’t hate people. Instead, true disciples love people like Jesus loved people and true disciples will see their lives as witnesses for God’s love and God’s truth in the big picture of history. True disciples look past the sin of this world and towards their future in a perfectly recreated world without sin!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As always, intentionally seek God first in your life. If you struggle with your commitment to God, then take this struggle to God in prayer. While I never hope God brings huge challenges into our lives, some challenges our lives may face can only ever be endured with God by our side. It is fully possible that trouble in our lives is a way of teaching us how to walk with God through the challenges rather than God simply protecting us from them. True disciples stay committed and walk with God through the challenges that come our way instead of giving up at the first sign of struggle.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself. Only through prayer and study can we build a solid spiritual foundation to stay connected with God through the storms of life. Choose to focus on growing closer to God regardless of what anyone in your life thinks or believes about your decision!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Continuing our journey through Matthew’s gospel brings us to a challenge Jesus receives from a group of Pharisees and Sadducees, and also to a challenge Jesus gives His disciples that they initially misunderstand. Let’s read what Matthew tells us and discover what we can learn from our passage for this episode.

Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 16, and we will read from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 1, Matthew tells us that:

¹ The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus, wanting to trick him. So they asked him to show them a miracle from God.

² Jesus answered, “At sunset you say we will have good weather, because the sky is red. ³ And in the morning you say that it will be a rainy day, because the sky is dark and red. You see these signs in the sky and know what they mean. In the same way, you see the things that I am doing now, but you don’t know their meaning. ⁴ Evil and sinful people ask for a miracle as a sign, but they will not be given any sign, except the sign of Jonah.” Then Jesus left them and went away.

Let’s pause reading here because I want to draw our attention onto an interesting counter challenge Jesus gives to these religious leaders. First, these leaders come to Jesus asking Him to show them a sign, specifically a miracle from God. On the surface, this doesn’t appear to be a trick or a trap. However, the trap comes in a spiritual form because if Jesus would have performed a miracle for them, it would have taken the focus off of God and placed it upon Himself – which is something Jesus didn’t do. Similar to what Jesus was tempted to do in the wilderness after His baptism, this challenge was to use His divine ability for His own benefit.

Instead of falling to this temptation, Jesus challenges these religious leaders by telling them that there were already signs present that they should open their eyes to. Similar to how the weather gives its own predictions that they had learned to pay attention to, Jesus gave signs throughout His entire ministry that were clearly visible to all who were paying attention.

Jesus challenges the leaders by saying that evil people ask for signs. In my mind, this is because those who demand signs are simply discounting or out-rightly ignoring the signs that are already being given.

Continuing in verse 5, Matthew tells us that:

⁵ Jesus’ followers went across the lake, but they had forgotten to bring bread. ⁶ Jesus said to them, “Be careful! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”

⁷ His followers discussed the meaning of this, saying, “He said this because we forgot to bring bread.”

⁸ Knowing what they were talking about, Jesus asked them, “Why are you talking about not having bread? Your faith is small. ⁹ Do you still not understand? Remember the five loaves of bread that fed the five thousand? And remember that you filled many baskets with the leftovers? ¹⁰ Or the seven loaves of bread that fed the four thousand and the many baskets you filled then also? ¹¹ I was not talking to you about bread. Why don’t you understand that? I am telling you to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” ¹² Then the followers understood that Jesus was not telling them to beware of the yeast used in bread but to beware of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

In this trip across the lake, I wonder if Jesus intentionally spoke in a way that caused a misunderstanding. Not much time had passed between the miracles of feeding the two large crowds, and I wonder if some of the disciples had bread on their minds as they were crossing the lake.

While Jesus regularly spoke spiritual truths using literal examples, the disciples seem to always focus on the literal concept before understanding the spiritual truth. In the case of this event, yeast is physically used in bread, so Jesus must be talking about bread, even though the phrase doesn’t really make sense that the disciples should be concerned about bread from the Pharisees and Sadducees.

With this misunderstanding, Jesus actually has the opportunity to emphasize two different truths. The truth Jesus wanted the disciples to understand they eventually figured out, and that truth is found in verse 12, where Matthew tells us: “Then the followers understood that Jesus was not telling them to beware of the yeast used in bread but to beware of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”

However, the bonus truth that Jesus could reemphasize because of this misunderstanding is a truth about trust in God. When hearing the conversation turn to not having any bread, Jesus steps in and questions why they even went there. After being present for two extraordinary miracles involving food multiplying in incredible ways, the last thing the disciples should be concerned about is a lack of bread. Using the same ratios as Jesus’ earlier miracles, a crumb in the corner of the boat could have been enough to feed Jesus and all twelve of His disciples till they were full.

With this misunderstanding, Jesus emphasizes the truth that God is more than willing to supply us with what we need, and He is very aware of what we need. Jesus also wants us to be aware of the dangers of placing our trust in the teachings of men. This is because the teaching of men, and you could say of women, changes over time with tradition. However, the spiritual truth God wants to teach us never changes. The big truths and themes of the Bible are just as true as they were when they were written as they are today, regardless of how culture, technology, or humanity has changed.

In our lives, we should ask God to help open our eyes to His truth, to His signs, and to His moving in the world today. Instead of being skeptical of something new, we should bring what we discover to God and let Him help us determine if it is worthy of our time, our energy, or our efforts. God wants the best for us, and when we live for Him, He will guide us along the path He has called us to walk!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, be sure to intentionally seek God first in your life and place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Him. Choose to trust that God will supply all your needs and ask Him to help you walk the path He created you to walk, and for help opening your eyes to see what He wants you to see and focus on.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each day. Through a strong prayer and study life, you will grow a solid foundation and relationship with God that will withstand the storms Satan wants to throw your way.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or let Satan trick you out of where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue our journey through Luke’s gospel, we arrive at an event that includes three things I suspect Jesus loved to do. The first was healing someone. The second was healing someone on the Sabbath, which was considered as work by most of the religious leaders at that time in history. The third was teaching people and giving them a bigger picture of God.

With this in mind, let’s dive into our passage and discover some big things we can learn from what happened. Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 14, and we will read it from the New Living Translation. Starting in verse 1, Luke tells us:

¹ One Sabbath day Jesus went to eat dinner in the home of a leader of the Pharisees, and the people were watching him closely. ² There was a man there whose arms and legs were swollen. ³ Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in religious law, “Is it permitted in the law to heal people on the Sabbath day, or not?” ⁴ When they refused to answer, Jesus touched the sick man and healed him and sent him away. ⁵ Then he turned to them and said, “Which of you doesn’t work on the Sabbath? If your son or your cow falls into a pit, don’t you rush to get him out?” ⁶ Again they could not answer.

Let’s pause briefly because I want to draw our attention onto one big piece of this miracle. Everything in this event suggests that this disabled man was there because these religious leaders wanted to catch Jesus doing something they considered work on the Sabbath. From what Jesus does, I suspect He saw this as well.

Before even acknowledging the disabled man, Jesus asked the question to those who would clearly know the answer whether healing is permitted on the Sabbath or not. The first phrase of verse 4 is powerful. After Jesus asks the question, Luke records, “When they refused to answer”. This silence was not because these leaders did not have an answer. Instead, this silence was because they did not care what the answer was. They were too focused on their present definition over what the law actually said.

However, Jesus challenges them by reframing what the Sabbath was meant to be. Ultimately, the Sabbath is meant for doing things that glorify God and things that help others. A slight oversimplification for the Sabbath is a day meant for glorifying God, helping others, and resting from work.

However, after Jesus heals the man, gives them context for why this is clearly acceptable behavior and that they would do similar “work” in certain circumstances, their meal continues. Continuing reading in verse 7:

⁷ When Jesus noticed that all who had come to the dinner were trying to sit in the seats of honor near the head of the table, he gave them this advice: ⁸ “When you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the seat of honor. What if someone who is more distinguished than you has also been invited? ⁹ The host will come and say, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then you will be embarrassed, and you will have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table!

¹⁰ “Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, ‘Friend, we have a better place for you!’ Then you will be honored in front of all the other guests. ¹¹ For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Pausing reading again, the phrase Jesus just finished sharing is powerful. Verse 11 tells us “those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted”.

This is powerful for us to pay attention to because this truth is as true today as it was in the first century. While it might not always seem to be the case, we are better off humbling ourselves while serving others because we can clearly see that those who become arrogant will ultimately be humbled. It isn’t a matter of if they will be humbled, it is a matter of when they will be humbled.

Ultimately, while it feels good to exalt ourselves, we can choose to continue exalting ourselves and then be humbled by others (which never feels good), or we can choose to humble ourselves and let others exalt us (which almost always feels good). However, it is worth mentioning that if we humble ourselves, letting others exalt us is good, but we must not fall into the temptation of then exalting ourselves after others have done so. This trap leads to being humbled.

The safest path forward is to take credit for all the mistakes and to praise others for all the successes.

Continuing our passage in verse 12:

¹² Then he [referring to Jesus] turned to his host. “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. ¹³ Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. ¹⁴ Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.”

Pausing again, I want to draw our attention to this powerful truth. Jesus challenged the host of this meal to not simply invite those who could return the favor, but to invite those who cannot return the favor. The way this is framed is not simply putting on a charity event for people who cannot repay.

Instead, the way this message is framed is including people who cannot repay you back in addition to all your friends. Part of me wonders if this was at least partially done in this event with what we began by reading and how we read about a disabled man being present at the start of this meal.

The big truth Jesus emphasizes is that God will repay us when we do things for people who cannot repay us. When we do things for others without repayment, God is more than happy to repay us in ways above and beyond what we can even imagine. God is a much better repayer than our friends ever could be.

Let’s jump back in and finish off our passage. Continuing in verse 15, Luke tells us:

¹⁵ Hearing this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, “What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the Kingdom of God!”

¹⁶ Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. ¹⁷ When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ ¹⁸ But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ ¹⁹ Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ ²⁰ Another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

²¹ “The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ ²² After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’ ²³ So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. ²⁴ For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’”

While there are many things I could draw our attention onto from this last illustration, the one big idea I want to touch on before wrapping up our time together in this episode is this: when the master invited all the poor, crippled, blind, and lame, this is a clear example of the truth we saw earlier. This master, who happens to represent God, is inviting people who have no way to pay him back.

Everything in this event draws our attention onto the truth that when we help other people who cannot repay us or help us in return, we are helping God and God is more than willing to repay us when Jesus returns. God modeled this type of generosity for us through Jesus, and when we show Jesus’ love and character to others, we will focus on helping those who cannot help us back because this is what Jesus ultimately did for us. Nothing we do can ever repay the debt God willingly forgave us from when we turn to Jesus and let His sacrifice cover our sins!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to help others who cannot repay you like God has blessed each of us more than we could ever repay Him. Choose to show God’s love to others by helping and being a blessing to people who cannot repay us back!

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to strengthen your personal relationship with God and to keep your connection with Him strong. Through a personal relationship with Jesus, mixed with prayer and Bible study, we let the Holy Spirit into our lives and the Holy Spirit will help us be the blessing to others that God created us to be!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!