Week 4: Signs and Wonders
Matthew 16:13-20, Mark 8:27-30, Luke 9:18-20
Romans 10:9 admits “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”.
Confession is a necessary part of the Christian faith. Yet, it's not just about confessing our sins; it's about acknowledging who Jesus is.
We see in Mark 8 that Jesus asks the twelve, “But who do you say I am?” and we see that Peter confesses that he believes Jesus is the Christ. What is interesting about today’s reading is that we read who Jesus claims He is. He says that He is:
The light of the world (John 8:12)
The Son of Man (John 8:28)
The Son of God (John 8:42, 54-56)
The One who sets us free (John 8: 32,36)
I am (John 8:58)
In Peter’s confession of Jesus being the Christ, He is confessing that Jesus is all that He claims in the five points above. When we share the gospel, we are asking people to see Jesus for who He is. We are asking them, “Do you believe Jesus is who He says He is?”
This is a question that we shouldn’t stop asking ourselves. We will spend eternity knowing the Triune God, so why do we stop seeking Him and settle for such shallow knowledge of Him here and now? We can’t settle for a small list like the one above, but we should start our eternity knowing, confessing, and knowing our God.
In this intentional season of Lent, start a habit that opens your eyes to knowing God. Everything we do should be leveraged to know Him. That is what Jesus is getting at in John 8: “If you abide in my word”, “If you were Abraham’s children”, and “If anyone keeps my word” are all statements that point to an intimate knowledge of God, not a shallow outward devotion.
Do you know who God is? And do you leverage your life to commune with Him so that your knowledge of Him grows deep and intimate?
Do you confess who Jesus is with your whole life?
