who He says He is...

“He said to them, ‘But, who do you say that I am?’”

-       Matthew 16:15

Reputation is powerful. Sometimes, what people say about us, what people perceive about us, speaks loud. Jesus had a very vast, robust reputation. His reputation both drew people to Him and away from Him.

Even in the 21^st century, He’s complicated. Some have heard more that He is homophobic, rather than that He is Healer, or that God is all love or all lightning bolts. And we sit here, somewhere between comfortable and complicated, and Jesus asks us, “Who do you say that I am?”

It’s funny, because we know. We know who He is, because He tells us. He defines Himself perfectly, and yet we distort it.

Jesus tells us who He is, and we still get it wrong.

Our sin and flesh and circumstances deter us and deceive us and we arrive at a place where Jesus says, “Who do you say that I am?” And we stumble and question and doubt. He meets us in that place, asking us how we see Him right where we are, and its funny, because after He asks us who He is, He reminds us who He is. All throughout Scripture, we see that God is just, righteous, wrathful, good, the one who gives and takes, the one who sees us; He is healer, redeemer, comforter, sustainer, and Savior.

How graceful and merciful He is with us! We constantly stray from truth, clinging to what we feel God to be rather than who He has revealed Himself to be.

Friends, who do you say He is today? 

Do you say He is healer, redeemer, Savior? 

Do you say He is good?