"Personal Choice"

And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, "Who do the crowds say that I am?" So they answered and said, "John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the prophets has risen again." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God." Luke 9:18-20 NKJ

So, you may have already gathered, what the question of the day is.  "Who do you say that He is?"

First, Jesus asks the disciples what the crowd thinks about who He is.  He receives an answer that includes multiple possibilities. Then He gets specific and actually gets personal and asks who do they say that He is. I guess the thing I noticed here is that the disciples knew the answer. They knew what the crowd thoughts on the subject were. They were with Him every day watching, listening, taking in all that He was saying and doing but still they were listening to and aware of the crowds opinion.

Over in Luke 8:49-56 they come and tell the ruler that his daughter is dead. Not to trouble the teacher any more. Jesus responds to that with these words, "Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well. It goes on to say that when Jesus came to her and said that she wasn't dead but sleeping that the crowd, laughed Him to scorn.He then put then out and proceeded to raise her up.

In Mark 10:48 we see blind Bartimaeus, "that many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus stops and gives the man his sight.

We need to remember that what the crowd thinks, what others think is what really matters to the outcome of things in our lives. What others say isn't what is important. The worlds opinion or rather the worlds declarations or their 'laughing to scorn' are not what matters. What really matters is "Who do you say that He is? If the ruler had listened to others instead of making a personal choice to believe in Jesus his daughter would have stayed dead. If Bartimaeus had listened to those trying to silence him instead of making a personal choice to believe in and pursue Jesus he would have stayed blind.

You and I need to be able to answer the question, "Who do you say that I am?" We need to make sure that the crowd doesn't sway us from knowing that He is the Christ, the Anointed of God and all that that brings into our lives as we serve Him!