PERSONAL REVELATION
Day Five…
Start by Reading Mark 8 & 9
Who do people say I am?
Such a simple question. Mark 8 v 27 brings you to the heart of Christianity. You have been following Jesus for a while now. You have read about His miracles, seen His compassion and heard some of His teachings. This is a key moment for you as Jesus Is wanting to engage you personally and to help you figure out what you really believe.
Personal Faith
Many people have differing opinions of Jesus. Some honour him as a prophet, others see Him as a really good man and teacher, prehaps a guru. There are many ideas, most of them are positive.
However for faith to mean anything, it needs to be personal. In vs 29 Jesus brings this home for the disciples “But what about you? He asks ‘Who do you think I am?’” You see it is not enough to know what others say about Jesus. This needs to come from you. Who do you say Jesus is? This needs to be your decision. Peter made his choice, as he answered “You are the Messiah!” The word Messiah means ‘anointed one’. Jesus is God’s chosen one to fulfil His promises and complete His plan to save humankind. Peters declaration is the very foundation for faith in Jesus. Your walk with God can only begin with who you say Jesus is. Jesus carried on teaching His disciples that He was going to suffer many things. He didn’t want them to be caught unawares so He put it all out for them. This was God’s plan and it was all coming together. The cross needed to occur. Jesus lived a righteous life, and took a sinners death. He took our place.
Discipleship
Jesus also unpacks what it means to be His disciple as there is a cost in following Him. This is more than just a belief or a feeling, rather it is similar to a marriage. This will require a continual commitment from your side.
If you want to follow Jesus, then v 34 becomes a very important verse to understand. “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” There are some factors here to consider — Denying yourself, you cannot save yourself, ever! Only Jesus can save you. Take up your cross — Every believer will bear a burden and life won’t be always fair. Follow Jesus — Simple really… where Jesus leads, you follow! Read vs 35 carefully as you need to understand that Jesus wants you to know that your soul is worth so much more than the entire world. He is asking “Can you let go of the world” and grasp fully onto Him? There is a huge difference between believing something about Jesus and following Jesus. Following Jesus requires commitment and sacrifice but it is totally worth it! What is it worth to you?
Reflection
Reflect on the questions below
Who do you say Jesus is?___________________________________
What will it take for you to follow Him? Rewrite vs 34 in your own words. ___________________________________
Is following Jesus worth the cost? Rewrite vs 35-36 in your own words. ___________________________________
Faith is your personal conviction. It is the invisible substance received deep inside of you. It is your present inner certainty regarding something that you cannot see as yet (Heb 11 v 1) Faith is also relational which means you need to be willing to open yourself up to God’s wildest possibilities. It is the assurance that you have what God has promised, before you are able to experience or see it. Faith requires a reliance and dependance on God as an action. It looks like commitment to something. Your faith is based on God’s truth which is revealed through Jesus and the Word. Finally your faith in Jesus needs an expression, it is the way you talk, live and behave because that shows what you believe.