“Who do you say I am?” This is the question Jesus asked his disciples at a very pivotal moment. Peter’s answer to this question set him up as the “rock” upon which Jesus would begin to build his church (Matt 16:15-19). How you see the person and work of Jesus effects everything. It determines, firstly, how you see God, because Jesus shows us who God is (1:15, 2:9). Without Jesus we only have a distant and vague notion of God and have no assurance of our standing with him. We have no notion of God’s fatherhood and no sense of us being his children. So, our view of Jesus then effects how we see ourselves. And the fact that Jesus died, not only for us but for the whole world (1 John 2:2), effects the way we see others. That Jesus paid for everyone makes us all equally valuable and beloved of God. It also means that, since God extends grace to all people through Jesus, we should too. So how you answer that opening question determines everything. In essence your answer to this question is articulated in the form of your life. If you say Jesus is Lord, but dismiss his example in practice, what does this say about your profession? Belief in and devotion to Jesus does not require perfection to be genuine. But it does require an ever-growing willingness to recognise our deficiencies and strive, by the strength of his Spirit within us, to be conformed to his image more and more each day.
Pray that you might know the love and power of Christ more and more.
Read Colossians 2:1-15
