“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Matthew 16:15-16
Throughout the New Testament gospel accounts the identity of Jesus is the question on people’s minds. Why is this important? Because if Jesus is a man like you and I, we can dismiss His teachings with little or no consequence. But if Jesus is truly God, then we must acknowledge His rightful claim to be God of our lives and the authority over our lives. If we believe Jesus to be God, then our appropriate response would be reverence and worship. We would have to surrender our lives to Him.
As a small child, I would play a silly game where I would cover my eyes with my hands and pretend that what was right in front of me wasn’t there. I was denying the evidence of reality. Unfortunately, many people in this world are denying the deity of Jesus because they don’t want that to be true. Some people don’t want Jesus to be God because that would mean that they should surrender their lives to Him. In the passage quoted here, Jesus affirms Peter’s declaration that Jesus is indeed “the Son of the living God.” No other person has impacted human history the way Jesus has. No one else is even close.
Heavenly Father, give me the faith to believe that Jesus is the Son of God sent to earth to die so that He might save sinners like me. I ask You to help me bring every part of my life under the lordship of Jesus Christ. I surrender who I am to who You are. I ask You to forgive my sins and make me right with God. Thank You for making me a child of God! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
