The Question

“Who do you say that I am?” Can you think of a more important question in life? Jesus asked that question of his disciples back then, and he asks the same pointed question of all his followers today—including you!

And what about the answer? Literally, one’s eternal life hangs in the balance, depending on the response. By the way, it is not multiple-choice.  There is only one correct answer—and it is the same simple two-word response Peter gave to Jesus:  “God’s Messiah.”

When you answer Jesus’ question correctly—assuming the answer flows from a heart that believes, a mouth that confesses, a life that matches both heart belief as well as creedal confession, and a faith that ruthlessly entrusts every precious breath you take and every split second you live to the messianic claims of Christ—there you gain access to the abundance of God now and entrance to eternal life forever.

Offer any of the many other palatable and politically correct alternate answers and you miss out on the greatest offer you’ll ever get but never deserve: The free gift of peace with God through the forgiveness of sins by Jesus’ death and resurrection and the added bonus of heaven after this life ends.

Jesus asks you, “who do you say that I am?” I like how C.S. Lewis forces the issue:

“You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

So what is your answer?

“Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which the whole thing looks improbable: but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable.” ~C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

What If God Took Over?

If you call Jesus “God’s Messiah”, that is, Lord and Savior of your life, then does your confession flow from a heart that believes? Is it matched by a God-honoring lifestyle?  Do you exhibit a faith that ruthlessly entrusts your every breath to Christ’s messianic claims?  If not, spend some time talking to Jesus until you and he can get things straightened out.