What Do You Say?
Read: Matthew 16:13-20
My primary role at my church is as the Confirmation Director for our youth ministry. Every year, I have the honor and privilege of leading young people toward claiming faith for themselves as they make a public confession of their commitment to Christ and say “yes!” to Jesus. Especially at their age, there are many voices trying to influence them and tell them which way to go. My hope and prayer is that the steadfast voice of Jesus is one that they ultimately listen to as they declare, along with Simon Peter, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16, NRSV). It is to these young people that we gladly hand over the keys to the kingdom!
Like these confirmands, we all come to a point in our own lives when we decide whether we will blindly follow the faith of our parents, our friends, and our church… or whether we will choose to confess Christ for ourselves. We each have a moment when Jesus turns to us and asks, “But who do you say that I am?” What will our confession be?
Often we can only answer this question for ourselves when we have had a personal encounter with the Living Lord or it has been revealed to us by our “Father in heaven” (Matthew 16:17). But when that moment comes and we are asked to declare Jesus as Lord, may we too boldly confess, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God!”