Ever thought that you had someone all figured out? I use to look at people all the time from a distance and I would begin to analyze them from the top of their head to their toes. I would get as much information from them without ever speaking to them or to anyone about them. Then when I finally got the nerve to introduce myself to them I realized that I had it all wrong in the first place. There was another man who walked this earth and people thought that they had him all figured out.
But Jesus was not what people expected. Even the Jewish authorities—the people who claimed to know more about God than anyone—were totally unprepared for the way God came. They expected the promised Messiah to be a strong political and military leader, one who would free his people from Rome. Instead, the Messiah was a 'suffering servant' (Isa 53), proclaiming a kingdom that was not of this world.
Like so many others, the Jews were very confused as to who Jesus really was. Jesus himself knew that even his closest followers felt that uncertainty. He asked them point-blank: 'Who do you say I am?' Peter’s response to this question, given in Matthew 16:16, was simple, direct, and tremendously powerful: 'The Messiah, the Son of the living God.'
Peter’s answer, simple though it was, set off shock waves that rippled through history. If Jesus was—and is—indeed the Messiah, the Son of the living God, then God had entered into human history in a way he had never done before. Life on this planet could never be the same again.
The only way to really know someone is to spend time with them and ask questions. Build a relationship and trust with that person, God is no different in that retrospect. In order to truly know him is to spend time with him daily and ask questions. His answers were all written out for the common person to live by. So don’t try to analyze God by looking at a picture someone painted or by what people say He is. Spend time with him yourself and get to know the most personal, impressionable, loving, healing, and selfless friend anyone could ever know.
But Jesus was not what people expected. Even the Jewish authorities—the people who claimed to know more about God than anyone—were totally unprepared for the way God came. They expected the promised Messiah to be a strong political and military leader, one who would free his people from Rome. Instead, the Messiah was a 'suffering servant' (Isa 53), proclaiming a kingdom that was not of this world.
Like so many others, the Jews were very confused as to who Jesus really was. Jesus himself knew that even his closest followers felt that uncertainty. He asked them point-blank: 'Who do you say I am?' Peter’s response to this question, given in Matthew 16:16, was simple, direct, and tremendously powerful: 'The Messiah, the Son of the living God.'
Peter’s answer, simple though it was, set off shock waves that rippled through history. If Jesus was—and is—indeed the Messiah, the Son of the living God, then God had entered into human history in a way he had never done before. Life on this planet could never be the same again.
The only way to really know someone is to spend time with them and ask questions. Build a relationship and trust with that person, God is no different in that retrospect. In order to truly know him is to spend time with him daily and ask questions. His answers were all written out for the common person to live by. So don’t try to analyze God by looking at a picture someone painted or by what people say He is. Spend time with him yourself and get to know the most personal, impressionable, loving, healing, and selfless friend anyone could ever know.
1 comment:
Great encouragement! I like your background. How did you do that? I put your blog link on mine. Blessings! Lesia
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