Daily Devotional for Wednesday, February 4

Jesus, the Son of God

“He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God,”Luke 9:20.

I have always respected those men and women who enlist into the military. Each one swears an oath to protect our country, no matter what, and submits to the authority of those with a higher rank. The different uniforms and insignia display the branch and level of each service member, signifying who is in charge. Without these distinct levels of organization and rank, commands would have no power. There must be a clear delineation of which orders should be taken seriously and where the ultimate authority lies, otherwise, chaos would ensue.

As Jesus called the twelve to be His disciples, they submitted to His authority as their rabbi (John 1:38). This relationship in the first century was similar to an apprenticeship in that they lived their lives together, and it truly was a submission to whatever their rabbi instructed. Jesus was so much more than just their rabbi though, and they needed to understand exactly who they were following. After sharing that the general public assumed Jesus was a resurrected prophet, Peter correctly confessed Jesus as the Christ. This is the first time recorded that the disciples verbally expressed this recognition of deity. Now that the proper rank had been established, it was time for their marching orders. He ordered that they keep the knowledge of His identity to themselves so that the future events would fall into place. Then He gave them the truth about following the Son of God, which we can still follow today. If we are to follow Christ, it requires more than following orders. We must completely deny ourselves daily to conform to Him, always with eternity in mind and not this temporary world.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Do you confess Jesus as the Christ daily? Today take every opportunity to verbally confess this both in prayer and to others.

Ashley Ridings