Who?

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” John 16:15 Jesus had just asked His disciples who the crowds believed Him to be. They gave a diverse number of answers while Jesus patiently listened. Then He confronted them with a question that had to be asked and that His disciples could not avoid answering. Peter, impetuous Peter, answered; "You are the Christ!" The Messiah. The Savior. Jesus blessed him, saying that Peter knew this because the Holy Spirit had revealed it to Him, and not the reasonings of men. I've been thinking this morning about how it seems so many who profess to have faith in Jesus Christ seem to know so little of who He is. We can recite who the Bible says He is, but if we're pressed to answer who He is to us, we often stumble. We know facts about Him, but we know little of Him. We know little because we have experienced so little of His reality. When we come into our times of crisis, we often flounder about because facts lodged in our heads have little impact upon what is going on in our hearts and in our spirit. We can "believe" that He is our Healer, Provider, Protector, Champion, Almighty God, and all the Bible says that He is, but we have never really experienced Him as such in our day to day lives. He's a historical figure whom we know is real, but He's never been "real" in our daily lives. The key to understanding all of this is found I believe, in Jesus' statement to Peter, that he was blessed because he didn't know this by his own reasoning but because the Holy Spirit, at work in his heart and through his experiences with Him, had revealed to Him who this Jesus was. And there was so much more knowledge and understanding yet to come for Peter and all the disciples. The Father, through the Son and His Holy Spirit, longs for us to know Him. For you to know Him....beyond anything you ever thought possible. In His Word He says, "I have so much more for you than this," but that so much more is too often not realized. We're satisfied with bread crumbs instead of bread, fresh and whole. We're satisfied with second-hand knowledge and second-hand faith, trusting in what others say about Him or have experienced in Him, but never really experiencing Him ourselves. We sit as paupers at the doorway to His riches. May we, wherever we are on our journey, constantly seek to know Him in ever deeper ways. Ask His Spirit to reveal to you deeper understanding and knowledge of Him. To shape you, transform you, to take you ever deeper into the reality of who He is. It can start with the simple prayer, "Lord, I want to know You. The real You, as You are, and as You wish to be with and in me." Ask for a burning passion for Him and be sure that He will answer that. I don't know how He'll respond to you in that, but I know this; when He asks "Who do you say I am," you'll be able to answer from your heart, because His Spirit will have revealed Him to you, and you can trust that He will never stop doing so. Never, ever. Blessings, Pastor O