Coffee cup in hand, she sits down by the window and stares hard through the frost-covered panes. Her sips from the steaming mug do little to warm the cold ache that makes her feel as if her soul will never thaw.
How can loneliness be so unrelenting?
Where is God in the midst of icy reality?
He grips the steering wheel as he pulls onto the interstate, bone-tired and weary from another long day. He hopes the twenty-minute drive home will help him unwind and process the past nine hours of stressful meetings and impending deadlines.
How can dreams get buried so deep?
Where is God in the midst of everyday demands?
_____
The crowds have thinned as she walks from the locker room, duffle bag in hand, head hung low. She missed the final shot . . . the weight of the world falling off her shoulders and cracking in a million pieces onto the pile of her mounting failures and unmet goals.
How can performance be so defining?
Where is God in the midst of broken expectations?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
We swallow hard and keep rushing forward . . . plowing head first into another day. Hoping that one day soon, we will feel complete. Hoping the scattered pieces will finally fit together, and we’ll find a way through the fog.
We wonder if there is a purpose in the messiness of it all. And when the struggles come, we often ask, “Where is God in the midst of this?”.
That question is common, but I believe it’s the wrong question, even though we’ve all asked it a hundred times before.
Instead, Jesus asks a different question. We find it in Mark 8:29 and Matthew 16:15. Nestled there in the New Testament, Jesus challenges His disciples. And though hundreds of years separate us from them, in our deepest hearts, we are so very similar.
They struggled to understand the Savior who lived in the midst of them.
They followed. And they doubted.
They trusted. And they faltered.
From one extreme to the next, the disciples walked a path of faith littered with questions, miracles, and glory mingled with pain.
And from the middle of their messiness, Jesus pauses. He looks deep and asks the question that begs to be answered – –
“Who do you say I am?”
When the bills are mounting and the bank account dwindles, is Jesus still enough?
When sadness comes and life takes an unexpected turn, is Jesus still enough?
Does God cease to be the Provider? The Grace-Giver? The All Powerful?
Do we dare trust that Jesus, this God-in-flesh, is indeed the Savior of the world?
“Who do you say I am?”
The way we respond means everything. It defines who we are, and it defines who He is to us.
Our answer tells us what the ground is like beneath our feet. It tells us what we fear and how we trust.
When we dare to ask ourselves, “Who is Jesus, really, to me?”, it opens up our hearts and forces us to dig deeper. It forces us to consider the place we’ve given Him in our lives.
And your answer is not the same as mine. Nor is mine the same as yours.
Because in the midst of our everyday lives, how we define Jesus is not universal. It’s personal.
“Who do you say I am?”
He is asking you . . . and He is asking me. And He desires our raw, honest response.
Because until we wrestle with who He is and where we’ve placed Him in our lives, we will continue to look through a clouded lens and fail to make sense of the messiness. We will miss His grace. His presence. His love. And we will miss being truly transformed.
So it’s time to pause and search your heart as you take the time to consider your answer to His question:
“Who do you say I am?”
“Who do you say I am?”
In His Grace,
Sherri
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This post is Pause #3 in my series “Pausing to Live Purposefully”. As we journey to live a life of purpose, we must come to grips with who Jesus is to us. Fulfilling our purpose is hard to do if we don’t answer this pivotal question that Jesus asks: “Who do you say I am?”
This week I encourage you to pause and consider your answer. Pray about how your answer defines your faith and how it matters as you pursue His purpose for your life.
You can read the other posts in this series by clicking below:
Introduction to Pausing to Live Purposefully – click here.
Pause #1 – “Uncovering the New” – click here.
Pause #2 – “The Power That Fuels Our Purpose – click here.
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Tracey Dykes says
Thank you, Sherri, for allowing God to use your gifts by sharing truths from His Word and building up His people…..all for His glory! I loved your statement about our answer to the question, “Who do you say that I am?” and how it reveals what kind of ground is beneath our feet. It reminds me of our recent study of Matthew 7 and the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders. The wise man builds his “house” (spiritual life) on the rock and the foolish man builds his “house” on the sand. I’ve heard it said that “the most important thing about us is what we think about God.” (A.W. Tozer) So our answer to “Who do you say that I am?” really does reveal what kind of ground is beneath our feet. Are we building our lives on the Solid Rock (obedience to Jesus’ commands) or sinking sand (disobedience to His commands and living in our own confidence)?
I’m so grateful for you! Thank you again for blessing us! May God give us grace to trust and obey so that our lives, like Peter, will answer the question with clarity, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God!”
Sherri Autrey says
Thank you Tracey! I think most Christians know the ‘correct religious answer’ to that question, which is a good thing, not a bad thing! But where the rubber meets the road is when we wrestle with what our answer really means and the significance He truly has in our life.
Thank you for your encouraging words!
Sherri Collins says
Sherri, I am so very proud of how you are using your witness for Jesus through your writing! Your well-written observations of “Who do you say I am?” is exactly what I needed to read tonight. I’ve been trying to rely too much on myself and have not enlisted the help of our Creator to guide and direct my every thought and action. Thank you for putting the right thinking back into my mind, and I look forward to delving into more of your work!
Take care and may God continue to bless this ministry!
Sherri Collins
Sherri Autrey says
Thank you! This post is part of something God has been challenging me with. And sometimes I get too comfortable in my faith, but God has a way of “waking me up!”
Thank you for your encouraging words!