And Your Answer?

Doing homework for our upcoming Bible Study, and pondering a portion of Mark 8. Specifically verses 27-29 and the corresponding passage in Matthew 16:15-16, where Jesus probes into the buzz about town as to who He is. He asks His disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" They respond with some plausible explanations as to what they've heard. Then Jesus probes a bit further, makes His question more penetrating, more personal. "But who do you say that I am?"

That is the most important question any of us will ever hear or answer. Who do you say that Jesus is? Whatever answer we give is life-determining, the driving force of everything about us. Any way we answer reveals the direction our life is taking.

We all give some sort of answer, whether we believe He is who He says He is, or whether we don't believe it. Your answer, my answer, anyone's answer lies there in the heart and the mind. It's there. Believing leads down one path, unbelief leads down another.

It took the disciples some time to fully comprehend who He is. It takes most of us who believe a while to grasp the same truth. Peter spoke for the disciples when he replied to Jesus, "Thou are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." And that must be our answer, if we are to be found on the eternal, life-giving path.

It's interesting to me that in Matthew's account Jesus responds that "flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." A true understanding of who Jesus is comes to us from God Himself.

Oh, dear one, if you do not understand who Jesus is, ask God to reveal Him to you. He will open your heart and mind to understanding. He will not be hid from you.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened." ~ Matthew 7:7-8

And when you hear the question, ponder carefully what your answer will be. Not all do.

Painting ~ Reading Woman 1833, Friedrich von Amerling  1803-1887

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