“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Matthew 16:15

 

No one likes being interrogated. But there’s a question that can’t be avoided.

 

The leader of a powerful country was being questioned. He was accused of having an affair with a young female intern in his government. When questioned, he never gave his investigator an answer, but his non-answers were answers in themselves.

Today, there’s a question that you and I can’t avoid answering. It’s a question that was asked by a man who claimed to be God. His name is Jesus Christ. While Jesus lived on earth, the Bible says that He asked His followers, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” referring to Himself. “People think you’re a prophet,” they told Him. “Then He asked them, ‘But who do you say I am?'” (Matthew 16:13-15).

This is the question His followers had to answer then, and this is the question that every person must answer. Simon Peter, one of Jesus’s followers, replied by saying, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (16:16), and Jesus told Peter, ” … my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being” (16:17).

How you answer, or never get around to answering, has eternal significance. Because Jesus also declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). If you’re not sure of your answer, God promises to reveal His Son, Jesus, to earnest seekers. The Bible assures you of this: “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” (Jeremiah 29:13-14a).

One wise writer once pointed out that “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important,”[1]

 

[1] Lewis, C.S. “Christian Apologetics.” God in the Dock:  Essays on Theology and Ethics, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI, 2014, p. 101.