Who do you say I am?

When Jesus asks this question of His closest followers, it’s in context of who others were saying the promised divine Messiah was. That’s true of my own context with Jesus over time.

As a child, I was told Jesus was a loving teacher and shepherd of people. A thought of Him as a good, nice man – a kind grade school principal.
As a teen, the noise of varied voices from friends, television, books, and awareness of darkness in the world drowned out the question.
As a young adult, I decided He was a symbol of love and morality – an intellectual version of the “good principal.” I scoffed at the idea that anyone would take literally the facts of a virgin birth and His ability to die in our place for our sins.

In my 30s, during a pain-induced period of searching for truth and meaning to life, He became one of many characters to explore more deeply. That honest and difficult search took me down many dead-end roads. Jesus remained an enigma, but I was open to exploring what some in my life were saying: “He is truly the Son of God who wants a personal relationship with you. He wants to forgive you for all your failures. He wants you with Him for eternity. He wants to love your hurting heart.”

It sounded good, but was it real? Over time I stopped trying to prove that He wasn’t the Messiah and instead look for who He was. I started to see Him through His direct involvement in the lives of those who knew and loved Him. That changed everything. I wanted what His true followers had – the peace that comes from knowing and loving the Savior of the World. The process to surrender what I perceived as control of my life took time and courage because of many fears. But the more I sought Jesus, the clearer who He was (and is) became. I gave my life to Him at age 35.

Today, in my 50s, I emphatically declare that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life.” I live to serve Him. I am privileged to be part of His grand plan to bring all creation together united in Him where perfect peace. I pray you also know who He is in the deepest parts of your heart.

Reflection by Ann Kafer, MA Bible, Teacher, and recently retired VP of GROWMARK, Inc.

Jesus asks each of us to answer this question: “Who do YOU say I am?”

Our bodies are the pods that hold the pearls of hope and redemption. We start out broken because of our sin or sin done to us. Because of that we endure pain. In those painful times, with our tough questions in tow, we seek God for help. God is the Grand Pearl Maker—He introduces a bit of grit to irritate our flesh. Over time it either gives us an ulcer, when we try to deal with it ourselves, or a pearl, when we invite God into our mess.

God makes beautiful spiritual pearls out of the worst of our messes.

Pearls are the only gemstones that are organic: they are created by living matter. And pearls are the only gemstone birthed from pain. Something precious, birthed out of pain—that sounds like our loving God. God won’t allow something foul to remain in our flesh, He will redeem it or remove it.

When God redeems our pain, He makes a spiritual pearl, one that can be shared like a parable to point others to His goodness. Anything that He allows into our lives, He will use for good. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22–23 NASB

But He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed Isaiah 53:5

What is irritating your flesh? What do you need God to redeem and make into a precious spiritual pearl? 

For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. 2 Corinthians 2:15-16

Think about your favorite smells. What are they? Then think about this—why do they smell?

Creator God made each of those things to have an aroma that is pleasing to you. Have you thought that God loves your smell like a momma that snuggles her child in her arms, inhales and smiles with joy? Your life, your prayer, your worship, your sacrifice is a sweet aroma that rises to bless Him!

Like the sinful woman who wept at Jesus’s feet, have you ever been overcome with gratitude for what Jesus has done for you? That is a pleasing aroma. Her tender act of adoration that physically scented the atmosphere, will be remembered for all times. Revelation speaks of our prayers having an aroma.

When you are spiritually stirred (to pray, to love, to act justly, to repent, to adore, to worship) your actions are a sweet aroma reaching the nostrils of God.

The next moment you have, stop and smell a flower or anything fragrant. Remember, you are the aroma of Christ.

Have you ever been fascinated with trees? In the garden, the Tree of Life lived. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. The “Tree of Life” in the garden points to Christ. When we choose Christ, we eat of His flesh and we have eternal life. Adam and Eve had the freedom to eat from this tree and had eternal life.

But the story goes that there was another tree in the garden, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam and Eve chose to disobey God and humanity has been broken ever since them.

But God… God had a plan and that plan put His Son Jesus on a tree.
Jesus humbled Himself and came into our mess, in a fleshly body. He came to earth out of His great love for us. 1 John 4:2 says, …Jesus Christ came in the flesh. 1 John 4:15,16 says: Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

When we confess that Jesus came in the flesh, God abides in us! He came to give you life.

This painting is titled, Eat Freely. John 6:54 says, He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. While Adam and Eve were shut out of the garden, so that they could not eat of the Tree of Life, we have been invited to eat of Jesus, our source of life, when we partake of communion.

Jesus came to purchase our spiritual freedom so we could once again “eat freely.” We have been invited to the table, to remember what He did for us through His birth, death, burial, and resurrection.

Take a moment on how Jesus' broken body bought freedom for you. Where do you see freedom in your life because of Jesus?

Jesus was born in a lowly manger—a harsh reality for deity. He was given a worthless crown of thorns before being nailed to and hung on a cross—a worthless adornment for the one worthy of all our praise. From the cradle, to the cross, to King of all Kings and Lord of all Lords, He was born to die and live again. It was foretold.

Although scholars disagree on how many, the bible has potentially nearly 600 prophecies that foretold that Jesus is The Messiah. Even with an extremely conservative count, the statistical numbers verify—to an astounding degree—that Jesus is who He claimed to be—our Lord and God.

On Jesus being a liar, lunatic or Lord, “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [that is, Christ]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

The thing is, we have to do something about this Jesus. Is He who he says He is or is He a liar, a lunatic, or our Lord. Even the demons say Jesus is Lord, but what about you, can you say that Jesus is your Lord?

There are lots of scriptures, of varying kinds of prophecies, that point to Jesus being THE Messiah.  If you are investigating who Jesus is, please click here to view the Spread Truth video.

The links below provide some mathematical statistics about the probability of Jesus being 'The One'.

The Mathmatical Probability that Jeus is the Chrsit
How Many Prophecies Did Jesus Fulfill?
Is Jesus for Real? Mathematical Proof! 

Life is messy.  The chaos and brokenness that surrounds us is overwhelming.  It’s easy to lose our way when we only focus on the messiness of life.  We too often forget that, through Christ, God has given us a better way. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He alone is our source of everlasting peace … a calm in the storm.  And though the chaos still exists, the cross allows us to find peace in the midst of it.

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. “  Philippians 4:7

Where do you turn when life is overwhelming?
What or who is your source of peace?

John describes for us, in chapter four of Revelation, what a ruling & enthroned Jesus will look like. In all His splendor, magesty, and full glory!

Who/What sits on the throne in your life? What do you need to lay down, in sacrifice, so that Jesus can assume His rightful place?

Now that you’ve contemplated who Jesus is to you, take some time to think about who are YOU!

The Bible says we are given a new nature when we claim Jesus as our savior. We are spiritually reborn, and we become children of God, Children of Light. This rebirth is Grace, a gift from God, not something we earn or deserve. God sent Jesus to die on the cross to atone for all of our sin, and make it possible to be forgiven and be in relationship with God, the risen Jesus, and Holy Spirit.

The rest of our lives our spirit is in a process of SANCTIFICATION ...becoming progressively more like Jesus. As we spiritually mature, we exhibit more and more Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), (Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control); qualities of the heavenly nature. We indulge less and less of our old “earthly nature”.

Whereas our JUSTIFICATION (being made right with God) is entirely an act of God, our sanctification is a cooperation between us and the Holy Spirit. We must decide to behave differently.  But we can ask the Holy Spirit to help us live out that difficult decision. We will not live it perfectly, but as we surrender to Jesus, He will forgive us and we can try again. We can look back and see that God has not left us where we were, but we are being transformed to be more like Jesus.

When I operate under the “Earthly nature”, I am prickly. I have sharp edges that snag on others, and I can hurt them.    But when I operate surrendered to the Holy Spirit, (Heavenly nature), my “edges” are smoothed.  I have peace with God and others.  I display more and more of the qualities of the Fruit of the Spirit.  Ask the Holy Spirit to help you become like the smooth stone!

Jesus IS your High Priest. You can go boldly to the throne of grace, to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16

The high priest was the supreme religious leader of the Israelites. The office of the high priest was hereditary and was traced from Aaron, the brother of Moses, of the Levite tribe (Exodus 28:1; Numbers 18:7). The high priest had to be “whole” physically (without any physical defects) and holy in his conduct (Leviticus 21:6-8). Jesus is our supreme leader and authority—He was our spotless lamb, without any physical defects: He is holy! He is our high priest after the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 5:10)

Because the high priest held the leadership position, one of his roles was overseeing the responsibilities of all the subordinate priests (2 Chronicles 19:11). Jesus is the head of the church, and His saints on this earth. The Hebrew people would go to the high priest in order to know the will of God (Numbers 27:21). Jesus reveals the will of the Father to us. In the New Testament, we find a reference to the high priest having the gift of prophecy (John 11:49-52). “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (NKJV). Revelation 19:10

The high priest had to offer a sin offering not only for the sins of the whole congregation, but also for himself (Leviticus 4:3-21). Jesus offered himself—his perfect self—for our sin and when he died, we were all offered freedom.

The most important duty of the high priest was to conduct the service on the Day of Atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month of every year. He did this to make atonement for himself and the people for all their sins committed during the year just ended (Exodus 30:10). It is this particular service that is compared to the ministry of Jesus as our High Priest (Hebrews 9:1-28). Jesus made atonement for us!

In understanding the role of the high priest, we can better comprehend the significance of Christ offering Himself for our sins once for all (Hebrews 9:26; 10:10, 12). Through Christ’s sacrifice for us, we are sanctified and set apart for Him. By entering God’s presence on our behalf, Christ has secured for us an “eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12). As Paul has written, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).

What do you need to boldly approach your High Priest for? Click the button below to send a prayer request. We will pray for these confidential prayer requests with and for you.

When we know who Jesus is, we can understand the cost of our sin. We can grieve what our sin cost, and yet freely surrender our sins to our redeemer, forgiver.

Write it down, say a prayer, and “nail” to the cross, knowing that with Jesus it is finished. You are forgiven! Trust Him.

A definition of Grace: Good things you didn’t earn or deserve, but you’re getting them anyway.

We become weighed down by the heavy load of sins we carry around...

We were never meant to trudge through life bound by the ever accumulating, thicker and heavier chains of wrongs we’ve done or said. Jesus promises freedom from these burdens. We need God’s forgiveness to be set free.

To be forgiven by God means that your sins have been removed, and restoration has taken place. By God’s gracious gift of forgiveness, through faith in Jesus Christ, every wrong you have done is not held against you. God is eager to forgive, and provides forgiveness to you through faith in Jesus Christ.

In this year’s reflective art experience, we have taken on Jesus’s question, “Who Do You Say I Am? We have illustrated several of His attributes, names, and qualities:  Redeemer, Prophecy fulfilled, Provider of freedom, a sweet aroma, the way to forgiveness (Savior), The Great High Priest, giver of Grace…..

The Bible offers many more. You probably had many more answers of who he is to you.

We all have our own stories and spiritual journeys, so we take different paths as we walk with Jesus. When our path is hard, God carries us. He promises never to leave us or forsake us. We can trust that He is with us as we journey. We hope that you’ve encountered Jesus in a new way.

Now GO boldly with the love of Jesus Christ into the world!