September 9, 2006

Key Passage: Luke 9:18-20

Topic: Jesus

One day as Jesus was alone, praying, he came over to his disciples and asked them, "Who do people say I am?"  (Luke 9:18, NLT). 

When someone asks who you are, how do your friends answer? "She's Julie's daughter" or "He's Mike's brother"?  

Jesus asked who people said He was. His disciples answered that some people thought He was John the Baptist come back to life; some thought He was an ancient prophet back from the dead. 

But Jesus pressed the question…after all He was asking those closest to Him, "Who do you say I am?" 

And Peter, the disciple, knew. "Peter replied, 'You are the Messiah sent from God!'" (Luke 9:20, NLT). 

How did Peter know? Because he had walked with Jesus daily. He'd heard the words Jesus spoke. He'd witnessed Jesus' compassion and had seen Him heal blind men, demon-possessed women and those with leprosy. Peter had seen the hungry fed. Peter's faith in Jesus as God's Son had become absolute. 

Do you envy that kind of confident, unquestioning, unwavering faith?  

Well, you can have it, too, if you walk daily with Jesus. Read God's Word every day. Communicate with Jesus through prayer. Rejoice in the fact that you have a relationship with Christ, the Son of God. And guard the time you spend nurturing that relationship with the One sent from God.