Growing up, I loved going to church. It played a large and important part of my childhood. Sunday School, VBS, and youth group each helped to shape my life.
Going into my adult life, we attended church and yet, it seemed more like habit until reading a Scripture one day.
“And He [Jesus] continued by questioning them,
“But who do you say that I am?”
(Mark 8:29, NASB)
Jesus was not so interested in His own reputation but knew the question would lead to discussion.
They replied by saying that some people thought He was Elijah, others thought John the Baptist, and others thought He was one of the prophets.
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn’t be a great moral teacher. He’d either be a lunatic on a level with a man who says he’s a poached egg or else he’d be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.”
(C.S. Lewis)
Jesus so often asked questions of His disciples, and those people He encountered. He knows all things so these questions were not for the sake of gaining information.
Jesus asked this question of the disciples, and continues to ask each one of us till this day. His questions bring us to discover what is hidden in our hearts. We have to choose Him on our own, personally.
“But who do you say that I am?”
This is a question each of us will need to settle
in our hearts for ourselves.
Reflection:
When did you decide to commit your life to Christ? What helped you to make your decision to follow and live for Him?
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
I met God in a closet when I was 4. My mom sat on my bed shepherding my pick-up time. I was quite put out about it. She said, "God knows what you're thinking." So I went into the closet and commenced to think angry 4-year-old thoughts about my mom making me pick up. She said, "God knows what you're thinking in there, too." I was awed - God knew what I was thinking even when I was hiding - and I remember being in awe. When I was seven I made my first communion - and I was so excited to take that important step in my relationship with God. I look on that as my formal public declaration of faith as a follower of Christ. BTW - I am intrigued now by the history of those who thought Jesus was Elijah come again - and what that reveals about Elijah's personality. I always thought him so unapproachable and stern - and am having to readjust my perception of him.
ReplyDelete