Devotions ... Who do you say that I am?

After watching Jesus heal a Greek woman’s daughter and a deaf man who had a speech impediment, a disciple, being astonished beyond measure, remarked, “He does all things well.” (Mark 7:37)

In Mark 8, while going through the towns of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?“ They responded:  John the Baptist, Elijah, another of the prophets.  Finally, he asks, “Who do YOU say that I am?”  To which, only Peter’s reply is recorded:  “You are the Christ (the Greek word for Messiah).”  Jesus then defined the hard part of being his follower.  For our confession to become reality in our lives, our life choices must undergo radical upheaval:  denying ourselves, taking up our own cross daily and following Christ.

It’s 2,000 years later. Many have denied themselves and many have laid down their lives in martyrdom.  Many have taken up their cross daily letting go of their personal agenda to uphold the banner of Christ.  But the question is still out there for all who enter this realm: “Who do you say that I am?  

Lots of people believe in God, the Creator.  It is God (YHWH, Jehovah, Yahweh, I AM that I am) after whom the whole human family is named—“beings.”  If we believe there is one God, we do well. The devils also believe and tremble. (James 2:19)  Religion believes in god(s).

Christianity asserts the only way to God is through his Word, the Word made flesh (John 1:14) who lived a sinless, righteous life (Hebrews 4:15) among us and paid the penalty for our rebellion in his own body on the cross (1 Peter 2:24), laying down his life willingly (John 10:17–18) blotting out even the handwriting of ordinances against us, (Colossians 2:14) nailing it to his cross.  The princes of this world did not recognize what was happening.  If they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:8) that rose again (1 Corinthians 15:4, 2 Corinthians 5:15, 1 Thessalonians 4:14).

In 1896 in Philadelphia, the preacher Robert F. Y. Pierce illustrated the idea of personal liberty by the man who thought he had liberty to strike another man in the nose. That sent the offender to jail to teach him that “your liberty ends where my nose begins.”

Many people have come to the point that freedom means they can do as they please.  Not so.  We, as a nation, have attempted to throw off what looks like shackles as we refuse the creator and lawgiver.  We redefine words to break the shackles. When godless people who do not know God’s law do by nature the things contained in the law, these who have not the law are a law unto themselves showing the work of the law written in their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness and their thoughts in the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. (Romans 2:15)

The question remains: Who do each of us say Jesus is?  Christ the Messiah?  Or someone else?  Jesus said, “I AM the way, the truth and the life:  no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)

Romans 10:9-11: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

(Cathy Bayert is pastor of Greybull First Baptist Church.)