Scripture Memory - November 1

Sorry I've been MIA lately.....

After the boys and I got over that nasty chest congestion thing we had, Tom and Alana were hit with it and they were both really sick - way worse than the boys and me. Both of them ended up going to the Dr. and were diagnosed with bronchitis (as well as an ear infection for Tom). They've been on a Z-pack all week and are on the mend.

Anyway, it's time for our next verse and once again, I'm going to take a little detour from the Proverbs 31 woman. Here's our next verse:

Then he said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" - Luke 9:20a (ESV)

I had a really neat thought occur to me about this verse this week. You may recall that this is Christ's question to Peter, which precedes Peter's big confession, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!" Jesus first asked the disciples, "Who do the crowds (paraphrase - others) say that I am?" The disciples answered that others had differing opinions - some thought Elijah, some thought John the Baptist, some thought one of the prophets of old. None of these correctly identified Jesus. Peter's answer was the only one that was right.

Like all other women, I struggle with what people think of me. I think this is a temptation for all humankind in some degree or another. What occured to me is that when I am worried about what others think, I'm letting them determine my identity. It's like I'm running around saying, "Who do you say that I am?" I go to Tom and say, "Who do you say that I am?" I turn to my children and say, "Who do you say that I am?" I ask friends, "Who do you say that I am?" And to my shame, I most often look at the world and say, "Who do you say that I am?" But Jesus Christ is calling me to turn to Him with His own words and say, "Who do YOU say that I am?" Because just as Peter correctly defined Jesus as the Christ, the son of the living God, so I am defined by Christ as joint heirs with Him, a part of the royal priesthood, clothed in His righteousness, a daughter of the King. The world's definition of my identity are wrong, only who Christ says that I am is right. What a lesson!