Who we believe Jesus to be is key to how well we follow Him. Do we believe He is the Son of God? Do we believe He is our Lord and Savior? Is He merely someone we have heard of? Do we sometimes think He is not real?
Our beliefs drive how we behave. They drive our decision-making process. They drive who we choose to associate with. Our beliefs may change over the course of our lifetime as we learn and experience new truths.
Unfortunately, it is possible for us to have false beliefs. It is possible for us to choose to deny the truth in front of us. We have the choice to believe Jesus is who He said He is. Or we can choose to believe He is a fictional character, nothing better than a story out of Hollywood. What choice will we make?
Oh, we won’t put it in such simple terms. We will say we believe in God, that we believe Jesus is the Son of God. But what does our actions say? They reveal our true, deep-down beliefs. We can make mistakes along the way. Those are forgiven. It is the continual choosing our own desires over God’s that show our heartfelt beliefs. It is our conscious decisions to follow our desires rather than God’s that reveals who we believe Jesus is.
Peter confessed Jesus was the Son of God. He did so with a convicted heart. Otherwise, Jesus would have called him out. We know that Peter denied Christ on the night he was betrayed. But we also know Peter became a powerful preacher of the gospel, convincing numerous people Jesus is the Son of God. His work was instrumental in firmly planting the church. He could not do all of this without believing Jesus was truly the Son of God.
I pray we all believe Jesus is the Son of God. I pray we believe deep in our heart He is our Lord and Savior. I pray each of us believes deep enough to put God’s desires ahead of our own. Believe Jesus is who He says He is. Put God’s desires ahead of your own. Build on your belief of Jesus.
Matthew 16:15-17 “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.”
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”
Marty Pressey 