Over the Christmas break, I sat around the table talking with my family and the dangerous question proposed by my niece was “if you went to high school with me now, would we be friends?” This led to a funny yet interesting conversation of our perceptions of each other, which included the style of clothes we wore, the group of friends we had, whether we actually had a date or not for prom…” The responses were all pretty unanimous, the ‘group’s” perspective was vastly different from what the individual believed was his or her own reality.
For example, while one person was seen as “having it all together, being popular and a poster for Talbots” the individual only remembered being home alone on many friday nights and dateless on prom. The group saw another as very funny and the life of the party, while she remembered always wanting to be part of the party that everyone else was at. The other was seen as having the ‘whole package’ she was very smart and athletic yet very quiet and introverted , everything everyone else desired to be, but she saw herself as alone, wishing she was more outgoing and didn’t have to strive so hard to have relationships.
I pondered on this conversation for a few weeks, and a few questions came to mind, who do I say I am and who does God say I am? What matters most to me?
The answer is crucial to understanding the woman I am in Christ. The very woman who you and I were created to be was meant for great things. But somewhere along the way we decided to give the world more credibility in our life than God. We decided having the world’s approval meant more than God’s and that opened the flood gates of insecurity to invade our life. We continue to compare and contrast our life with others, instead of rejoicing with others we secretly are jealous, or we work so hard at portraying the “perfect’ life we have that we become exhausted at the charade.
In Matthew 15:15-16, Jesus asks Simon Peter “who do you say I am” and then He repeats it again. Jesus doesn’t want the ‘Sunday school’ answer, He doesn’t want us to give Him the ‘correct’ answer, He truly wanted to know who PETER believed him to be. He is asking us the same question today, “Who do you say I am?”
Jesus asked Peter this question, and waited for his answer. You see the answer is the foundation and the turning point in defining who we are. If we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that God is the one and only God then we have to choose to believe all that He says He is. Otherwise, our beliefs falls flat. Either we believe or we don’t, there’s no in-between.
If we choose to believe who God says HE is, then we must also choose to believe who He says WE are.
He becomes our standard not what we think of ourselves or what others may think of us. He is our standard. It all goes back to do we truly believe God?
So when our insecurities creep in and we start to feel doubt and despair lurking around the corner, go back to the basics. The same question that Jesus asked Peter is the same question He is asking us today, “Who do you say I am?
Ephesians 1: 3-4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.”
