Knowing who we are

On Thursday nights here we have a Bible study that was started with the intention of encouraging people to read through the Bible in one year. We simply choose a book to read each week, then gather on Thursday nights to talk about things like the author, the theme etc. By far, my favorite part is hearing what verses stuck out to the other readers. I always knew there were things to be learned from other believers, but I guess I thought we had more to learn from those who have been believers for a long time. While it's true that they have gained much wisdom from walking with the Lord many years, I am seeing new believers as a source of fresh energy and I LOVE hearing how they are gaining so much from reading things for the 1st time. It's like watching my little Felicity eat with a fork for the first time, or pop a bubble in mid-air for the first time. There is something beautiful about the "firsts".

This weeks reading was on Matthew. One of my favorite things in the whole Bible is found in Matthew where Jesus asks the disciples "Who or what are people saying about me?" They go on to tell him some of the titles that people are giving him. Then he gets to the heart of the matter by asking "But what about you? Who do you say that I am?"
This is where Peter steps up and says what his heart is prompting him to say "You are the Christ, the son of the living God".
This question wasn't only for the disciples at that point in time.
This question is one that each heart must answer for all of time.
 Who exactly is Jesus?
 People have always said things about him, lots of things!
Some say he was a great teacher like Confucius, some say he was an interesting historical figure that we know existed, but other than that we can't be sure exactly who He was. 

C.S Lewis summed up the possibilities best when he said Jesus is either "Lunatic, Liar, or Lord",  or we could say "Mad, Bad, or God".
Peter had already wrestled with this question and had firmly concluded that Jesus was indeed the Song of God. He didn't come to this conclusion because someone "talked" him into believing it. If you can be "talked" into believing you can be "talked" right back out. He didn't answer an alter call and come to Jesus that way either. He had a revelation of the truth in his heart and he was changed by that.
I love asking new friends this question "What do you think about Jesus?" Living in China isn't like living in America. People aren't confronted with Jesus everywhere they go here. There aren't Christian radio stations, there is no Christian TV, there aren't churches on every block, people aren't sporting Jesus t-shirts or have little fish stickers on their car bumpers.

 People can go about their lives here for years without hearing the name of Jesus and this isn't even "the middle of nowhere". This city has 10 million plus people!
But the truth is, if we don't know the truth about Jesus then we don't know the truth about ourselves! Before Jesus came along to shake things up, Peter was just doing what was in front of him, and that was fishing. If you asked him who he was he would have answered "a fisherman", but he would have been wrong!
      Jesus told Peter who he was when he said “And I tell you that you are Peter. On this rock I will build My church. The powers of hell will not be able to have power over My church. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the holy nation of heaven. Whatever you do not allow on earth will not have been allowed in heaven. Whatever you allow on earth will have been allowed in heaven.” 
Without knowing the truth about Jesus, Peter could not know the truth about himself!
God created Peter to be a fisher of men, but Peter was just going from day to day without even knowing his purpose. Oh he was busy, but he wasn't being eternally productive. Maybe he was a fishermen because his dad was, or it was good money, he might have even liked it, maybe he was very good at it  but it wasn't what he was born to do. Peter is no different than us! We all must go through the same process of -
1. Discovering Jesus.
2. Deciding what we believe about Him.
3. Declaring it - Peter said with his mouth out loud "You are the Christ".
4. Discovering who Jesus says we are.
5. Walking out that calling.