WHO DO YOU SAY I AM?

"What do you think about the Christ?" (Matthew 22:42); "But what about you? ... Who do you say I am?" (Matthew 16:15).

We might paraphrase Philippians 4:8: "He is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praise-worthy -- think about this Person." Freedom of thought is implied in this question about Christ. Tyrants don't want others to think, but Christ recognizes our freedom of choice when He asks us what we understand and believe about Him.

Our own character cannot be formed until we have a clear understanding of Christ's character. Christ calls Himself the Son of Man (Matthew 8:20). "But [he] made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, being found in appearance as a man" (Philippians 2:7,8a). In Colossians 2:9 we read, "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form." So He is also the Son of God.

It is interesting that Satan discerned Christ's divinity: "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?" (Mark 5:7). But we earthlings are too blue-blooded to believe that Christ shed red blood to ransom us. But! "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ" (Colossians 2:8).

What do we think of Christ? Do we think of Him less -- and less of Him -- when life is not what we want it to be? We will fall in love with Him only as we study His life and His mission. Then, as we learn about Him, He becomes our Anchor in the storms rather than the scapegoat on which we lay all our troubles.

What do we think of Christ as our Friend, our Messiah, our Judge, our Shepherd and our Lamb? Do we really believe that He is all things to all of us? "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).