Okay. It's 3:15 in the morning. We have just had severe weather, which means I couldn't sleep. It's the strangest thing. I had never been disturbed by bad weather until I moved out on my own. Then, for whatever reason, I have since not been able to sleep through a hard rain. Oh well.
I have been up and about for a couple of hours and thought to myself, I'm going to read. And here we are. Let's venture into Matthew Chapter 16. Somewhere around verse 13. Jesus is asking His disciples who they hear other people saying that He is. They tell Him. Then Jesus asked the disciples who they say He is. Of course Peter says, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Then Jesus answers him and says, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."
All right, now this is the part that really spoke to me. Jesus tells Simon, "I also say to you that you are Peter". Now why did Jesus say this? There was an obvious reason for Him to ask the disciples who they thought He was. He wanted them to understand where the knowledge of kingdom and truth comes from. So why did He say to Simon, "You are Peter"? I really believe He wanted Peter to understand who he really was in Jesus' eyes. Not who the world said he was, but who he really was in the kingdom view.
See, the name Peter comes from the word Petros, meaning a stone. Jesus says in verse 18, "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church." We know that the church is not a building, but the body. We are the church. I see in this scripture a new perspective of church and self. We are the church, but the church is built upon ourselves. Not the self in the flesh, but the self that is defined by God. The me who is who God says I am.
This is hard to wrap my mind around because I generally only see the me that is defined by me. And just like Peter did in verse 22, I often put my interests before God's. But amidst all that, I am still unique and special to God and set apart for His purpose. So if you see this the way I do, ask yourself who you say Jesus is. Hopefully, you too will say He is the Christ, the Savior, the Son of God, the Truth. If so, then you, like I do, have no choice but to believe Him when he answers your question. That question is this: "Lord, who do You say I am?''
Peace and Blessings
I have been up and about for a couple of hours and thought to myself, I'm going to read. And here we are. Let's venture into Matthew Chapter 16. Somewhere around verse 13. Jesus is asking His disciples who they hear other people saying that He is. They tell Him. Then Jesus asked the disciples who they say He is. Of course Peter says, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Then Jesus answers him and says, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."
All right, now this is the part that really spoke to me. Jesus tells Simon, "I also say to you that you are Peter". Now why did Jesus say this? There was an obvious reason for Him to ask the disciples who they thought He was. He wanted them to understand where the knowledge of kingdom and truth comes from. So why did He say to Simon, "You are Peter"? I really believe He wanted Peter to understand who he really was in Jesus' eyes. Not who the world said he was, but who he really was in the kingdom view.
See, the name Peter comes from the word Petros, meaning a stone. Jesus says in verse 18, "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church." We know that the church is not a building, but the body. We are the church. I see in this scripture a new perspective of church and self. We are the church, but the church is built upon ourselves. Not the self in the flesh, but the self that is defined by God. The me who is who God says I am.
This is hard to wrap my mind around because I generally only see the me that is defined by me. And just like Peter did in verse 22, I often put my interests before God's. But amidst all that, I am still unique and special to God and set apart for His purpose. So if you see this the way I do, ask yourself who you say Jesus is. Hopefully, you too will say He is the Christ, the Savior, the Son of God, the Truth. If so, then you, like I do, have no choice but to believe Him when he answers your question. That question is this: "Lord, who do You say I am?''
Peace and Blessings
-Todd Bagley
Ed: Todd leads our 4pm Worship and Bible Study on Sundays
2 comments:
Most of us spend our whole lives trying to figure out who we are. You know what? Most people never really figure it out.
Both joining the "over-fifty" crowd and surviving cancer have given me some perspective, especially the journey through cancerland. But as both of these migrate slowly into my past and life again becomes "normal," that perspective also becomes background noise to all of the activity around me.
However, in those 2 and 3 A.M. moments it's all very clear. I'm still trying to learn how to have that clarity all day long and not just in those early-morning intimate moments. I almost find myself wishing that I would awaken every morning at 2 or 3.
I pray that all of us would have that holy clarity and those holy moments where He speaks and everything in ourselves and in our lives falls into its place, moments where we know beyond a shadow of a doubt who He is and whose we are.
Thank you for sharing your early-morning intimacies with all of us.
Sometimes I wake up at those hours and later think it was the Father calling out to me (tommy), "Hey let's pray!
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