In a conversation with a dear friend over the concern of some Believers who act out worldliness or live according to human standards then the disappointment it produces in other Believers, I heard myself say, "people are looking for genuine Christianity."
Immediately after saying those words, I knew that I needed to listen to the Holy Spirit for clarification; for an exposition on those words. And, a requirement to write what I would hear and learn from Him.
Then, I heard the words from Scripture that were spoken by our Lord; "Who do men say that I am?" Peter was the follower with the correct answer. Not because he himself really knew the answer. The answer was revealed to him by the Spirit of God! "You are Christ, the Son of God"
Jesus' response to Peter helps us to gage the importance of this Q & A. Unless the Holy Spirit reveals to men, that Jesus is Christ, very connected to Almighty God and on assignment by Him on this earth, we will miss our connection to and assignment because of Jesus that comes through the Holy Spirit from God.
Christ. The word Christian comes out of this word. "Little Christs," is what Christian means. But, what about Christ? What does His name mean? If we are little Him, it is of utmost urgency and importance to know what that means! Then, of equal urgency and importance is to "be" what it means!
So, Christ means "Messiah," The Deliverer. He came to deliver mankind from a condition that only He had the ability to deliver them/us from. Sin. Sin is a transgression from Divine Law. The man Adam transgressed upsetting mankind's eternal propensity. But, when Jesus came to the earth, died on the Cross, arose on the third day, and went back to the Father, He did all of this to deliver mankind from this eternal propensity, also called sin, bringing man into right standing with Almighty God, if we chose to accept.
Without getting gooky or heretical, we must get the revelation that we, who have accepted Jesus Christ into our lives, are here to deliver others from this eternal propensity, sin, through our connection with Jesus Christ. This, my fellow Christian, is our assignment. How we engage the assignment must come through us being genuine. Meaning, being true to who we are in Christ! Being true to what the Word from our Lord says about us. Free from pretense and hypocrisy; really being sincere! Not a counterfeit, but the real deal!
This is what marked Peter. He was the real deal. Though he may have looked too impulsive to some, Peter loved our Lord and was sold out to Him. This was a heart fertile for a revelation from God. I imagine that God knew that He could trust Peter to blurt out the revelation of Truth that came to Him and to live it out.
Don't you want to be like Peter? Sold out to the Lord, without pretense or hypocrisy, (until the circumstances of the Cross), and so sincere that he acted in immediacy regarding our Lord!
At least at this juncture in the journey he was totally real and very expressive. And even though this quality was later tested, we know that Peter came through. He was sold out for our Lord all the days of his life, delivering many, even to this day, from the awful propensity toward a sinful existence and eternity.
There's much more that I could say, but I'm sure you get the gist. What actually is this life about? What actually is your life about? Is it about you, yours, and a little bit for the Lord? Or, are you sold out? Are you a "deliverer?"
