You are the Christ
Luke 22:31-32 And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”
Christ had gather all his disciples for the Passover feast. They had met in the upper room, and Christ had revealed his destiny to them; they had celebrated their last meal together. This meal became known as the Lord’s supper where Christ symbolized his body and blood to do in remembrance of Him. The gospel accountants of this meal summarize the events of it, and the events leading up to Christ heading out to the Garden of Gethsemene to pray before Judas betrayed Him. Christ had told them of one who will betray Him; he then later rocks Peter’s world by telling him that he will betray Him. Peter in all his zeal denies it; even says he would die to prevent it; but Christ knows it, and Peter will come to painfully realize it. 33 But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.” 34 Then He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.”
There is so much going on in the world around us that places us in a position to stand for our faith, or deny it. The marriage equality debate is being held in the highest court of the nation; a debate that would never take place in a nation that lived by the commandments of God. A God fearing Christian does not hate homosexuals as they preach; but that does not mean that we support breaking the sanctity of marriage as God designed it. Are you willing to stand for your faith even in fear of the consequences? Do you say that you are a Christian but support homosexuality? That leaves you in the place Peter was. You are claiming what is convenient, but not when it comes to taking a stand for Christ. You are called to love your brother; Matthew 22:39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ In our love for all our neighbors, therein lies a call to repentance of sin, and for them to come to know Christ. Luke 5:32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
This holy week represents all that you claim in Christ. Who do you say that He is to you? Christ asked that question to his disciples when they were in the region of Caesarea Philippi; Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16). Is He that to you? Is He your deliverer from sin, your eternal Savior? Almost every religion out there teaches a pathway to paradise. They place a hope in the life after this one; but their failure is they tell you what you must do to obtain it by your good deeds. Christianity teaches that you can never do enough good to reach God; it is obtainable only in a humble, repentant heart that see the sacrifice of Christ as the only way to eternal paradise. John 14:6 I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but through Me. Christ encouraged Peter in the midst of that disclosure; “when you return to me”; it is not too late to return to Christ. He waits with open arms for those that understand the hope that lies in them.
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