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“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” Mark 8:29
To the educator he is known as a master teacher. To this day many methods of effective teaching can be traced to him.
The leader admires his style. Only eleven men of obscure background and little education yet they turned the world upside down as a result of his plan.
Those in religion see him as a catalyst of controversy. For some he is the bastion of trying new things. To others he’s the personification of conservatism and fundamentalist teaching.
But who is Jesus to you? It doesn’t matter who your parents tell you he is. It’s not important who your teachers tell you he is. Even the opinions of your closest friends don’t matter. What matters most is who YOU think Jesus is.
You can give him lip service and go to church and tell others that you believe he’s the Son of God and that he died on the cross. You can ‘believe’ he is who he says he is and that he did many miracles.
But Jesus’ question to the disciples was much more than a rhetorical question to test his popularity. It was a question of commitment and life-change. It was a question that demanded an answer with their lips, their attitudes and their desires.
If they said, as Peter did, that he was the son of the living God, then their lives demanded that they reflect the love, grace, mercy and faith that Jesus taught them. If their answer didn’t include a change of heart they were none better than the rich young man who walked away; the crowd that screamed crucify him; the Pharisees that refused to accept his personal message from God.
And so it is today, Jesus comes to us each day with the same question he asked the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”
How will you show those around you the answer to the question? The good news is that his Holy Spirit gives us the power to answer, as Peter did. You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. You are the Lord of my words, actions and attitudes.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus. I confess to you that it’s far easier to give you lip service than to show your lordship in my life. I testify, as Peter did, that you are the Son of the Living God; God incarnate, the son of the Living God. I ask that the power of your Holy Spirit would so invade my life that others would see you in me. In your name I pray, Amen.
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14
Sometimes I think we as Christ-followers have a warped view of our Bible heroes. Take the Apostle Paul for example. We lift him up as a man we all want to emulate. After all, he wrote most of the New Testament, was responsible for starting many, many churches and, among other things had the wisdom and chutzpa to stand up to Peter and get into his face on a couple of occasions. What a guy!
But I appreciate Paul for more than his godly wisdom and spiritual insight. I admire more the many times in Scripture when he speaks candidly about his own failures. I think Paul would scream in horror if he heard and saw how we elevate him sometimes.
Take for example his letter to the Philippians. Three times in the first few verses of chapter three it’s as if Paul is saying, “I haven’t reached perfection yet. I still fail. I struggle with the same old sins. I battle temptation constantly. Sometimes I win. Sometimes I lose. But, I press on to the higher standard God has called me to in Christ Jesus.”
Isn’t that the way each of us feel when we are honest with ourselves? We aren’t called to perfection. We’re called to battle. We aren’t expected to win every battle with temptation, but we are encouraged to fight each battle with determination and will.
Sometimes that means giving up our ‘rights’. Sometimes we’ll be misunderstood or wrongfully accused. Sometimes we’ll just plain fail. Jesus is more interested in the direction you are heading than how many battles you win. He’s more excited about how hard you fight than your win-loss record. He knows you’ll lose some battles. He knows he’s already won the war.
Don’t get discouraged when it seems the old life has too much power over you. You have been called to battle with Jesus at your side. Don’t give up on yourself. Sometimes you’ll win the big battles; sometimes you’ll lose the small ones. Either way, pick yourself up, brush the dirt from your clothes and press on knowing the Jesus is running alongside cheering you on to victory and comforting you in defeat.
PRAYER: Jesus, there are so many times I’ve failed you. I get up in the morning determined to win and climb back in bed hours later battered, bruised and embarrassed by my weakness. Forgive me for my failure. Empower me to press on. In your name, Amen.
But God’s truth stands firm like a foundation stone with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and “All who belong to the Lord must turn away from evil.” 2 Timothy 2:19 (NLT)
Imagine the scene in heaven. You are standing before the God of the Universe, the Creator and sustainer of all things. He has the power to send you to hell for eternity or welcome you into an eternal life of rest with him. Not to oversimplify but it’s sort of like the scene from the “Wizard of Oz”. Like the cowardly lion you stand shaking in your shoes as the greatness of God fills the room and shakes the very foundation of the building.
Between you and the throne stands the accuser. He’s not the red-suited, horn bearing being you remember from the pictures back on earth. He’s huge, he’s beautiful and his very presence says POWER.
He opens a scroll within your view. On it are the charges against you. Every time you disobeyed your parents is recorded. Every time you flipped off another driver is listed. Every time you lied about not going to church, talked evil of your neighbor, abused your kids and had sex with your girlfriend before marriage. The list goes on. Charge after charge.
There’s no hope you know. You are guilty. Guilty…as they say, as sin. Charge number one is read. In great detail the accuser tells how you did the act. Your attitude. Your words. He even goes so far as to mimic (perfectly, might I add) your facial expression. It’s as though he were there!
The Supreme Judge turns to you and asks how you how you plead. Guilty? Or Not Guilty. You are guilty of course. Guilty of every charge. But just as you are ready to speak, you hear a voice.
“NOT GUILTY FATHER!”
Jesus steps forward. He’s glowing. The compassion and love oozes from every pore. He looks at you and smiles proudly. Then he turns to his father and holds out his hands, the scars from the nails are obvious.
The Father smiles and looks at you. Satan grimaces and his beauty fades into anger and hate. And so it goes with every charge on that list. Satan accuses, Jesus reminds the Father that you are his. Not guilty by reason of the shed blood of Jesus.
When it’s all said and done, your heavenly Father smiles and says “Well done thou good and faithful servant. Enter into my rest.”
Our sin is forgiven. Our lives are free to live in perfect relationship with God. And it’s all because of Jesus.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus. I thank you for forgiving me of my sin. I confess to you the struggles I still have with anger, lust, worry and abuse. Forgive me for what I do. Thank you for who I am in you. In your name, Amen.
“For it is: Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that; a little here, a little there.” Isaiah 28:10
Nobody likes rules. When we are young we yearn to be free of rules and then we get older and find ourselves making more and more rules! Rules tend to confine and control us. Rules take away our freedom. Yet, in our more mature moments we have to admit that the world would be in big trouble if it weren’t for rules. Although rules control us, they can also guide us and protect us from…well, rule breakers!
When the Prophet Isaiah was ministering to the Israelites one of the complaints he and the other prophets heard was that they said the same things over and over again. The Prophets constantly stressed the basics. Later, in Jesus day, the Pharisees took rulemaking to new heights by burdening the people with rules to help them obey the rules. The problem was, those rules eventually, and I think unintentionally, replaced the real rules!
One of the reasons the Prophet Isaiah and his cohorts continued to stress the basics of the Godly life and didn’t move on to deeper things is that the people weren’t following the things God had already required of them.
The same is true today. We have conferences on seeing God’s power. We have books about seeing God’s power. There are some who make money off the ministry of telling people how to see God’s power. But nothing seems to help. For many of us we go through life hearing about God working in magnificent ways overseas or in the lives of others, but fail to see his power evident in our own life?
The thing each of us needs to realize is that our Heavenly Father is desperate to do things in our lives, but he can’t give us the deep things he has for us until we get the basics down. Other religions say you have to follow a multitude of rules to gain ‘divine power’. Not so with as Christ-followers. From the moment you accept Jesus you have all the power of God at your fingertips. His rules are simple. Get into a love relationship that holds him as number on and you will see mighty things.
So why don’t we see mighty God-power in our lives? God doesn’t expect big things from us until we master the little things in life. What are those ‘little things’? It starts with getting rid of all the stuff that keeps you from God. Anything that keeps you from holding God as number one in your life hinders your love relationship with him.
A love relationship with God means we take time out of our busy schedules to pray, read his word and fellowship with him. Those seem like little things but those little things are all God expects from us in order to show his power. It’s not about all sorts of rules like religion will tell you. Following God’s rules is all about freedom to be you.
PRAYER: Father God. I want to be desperate for you. There are so many things that keep me from seeing your power in my life. Empower me with your spirit to focus on the simple things of prayer, Bible reading and fellowship. Let your life shine powerfully through me to others, in Jesus name, Amen.
For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. Matthew 7:2 (NLT)
One of the men I admire most was my uncle Bernard. Uncle Bernie was a quiet man with a generous heart. In all the years I knew him I never once heard him raise his voice or say a negative word about anyone. He was soft-spoken, gentle at heart and generous. He didn’t have a large house although he had money, his home was modestly comfortable. Uncle Bernie died in the same way he lived, quietly falling asleep as he listened to his favorite baseball team on the radio.
Uncle Bernie has been gone a long time but his testimony lives on in my mind because he was probably the most non-judgmental man I know, next to Jesus. I don’t remember enough about Bernie to know what made him tick; what it was that made him so accepting of other people, but that part doesn’t really matter. What matters is that he was a man who knew Jesus and showed Jesus love in how he treated others.
Jesus taught us not to judge others. He showed us acceptance of other lifestyles when he reached out to the woman caught red-handed having sex with another woman’s husband by telling her she wasn’t condemned, even though she deserved death.
He showed how to accept people when he made a point to stop at a well so he could meet up with a woman who’d failed five times at marriage and finally decided to ‘shack up’ with man number six rather than go through the whole marriage/divorce cycle. She was so ashamed she went to the well when she ‘knew’ she’d be alone. But Jesus met her at her most lonely time in the loneliest place because he accepted her even though he couldn’t tolerate her lifestyle.
If Jesus were here today I think he’d visit people you and I avoid like the plague. The person living the gay lifestyle would find a friend in Jesus. The imposter who lives behind a disguise of religion while they battle with drugs, alcohol or pornography would feel his touch. The abusive father or stepmother, the guy with at tendency for road rage, the vindictive gossip. All can find acceptance and healing when they come to Jesus.
Jesus doesn’t ask us to accept those different than us, he requires it. Through the power of his Holy Spirit I can find the strength to accept those who make a mockery of my faith. Because of his nail scarred hands I can find acceptance and healing in the midst of my struggle with sin. I want to be like him. I want to show his love like my uncle Bernie did.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus. I see in scripture how you have reached to others. I ask that you would do a work in my soul. Forgive me and heal me of the struggles I’m enduring. Empower me to live for you and to reach out to those around me. Help me to accept those who mistreat me, drag your name through the mud and mock your name. I pray this in your name, Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 