What Say Ye of The Christ

The Christ,

The Anointed. The Savior. King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Prince of Peace. The Lion of Judah. The Lamb of God.

We know all of the Lord Christ Jesus' beautiful names. We can quote them at church.

We recall them amongst christian friends but what does our lives say???

One of the most pivotal moments in the ministry of Jesus concerning His closest disciples was when the Lord questioned them saying, "Who do men say I am??"

Their answers were telling.

What would be the answer of your life????


Live as if He were truly the soon and coming King.


Trust as if He was actually Lord of Lord and King of Kings.


Forgive as if He were the Everlasting God.


Love as if He were the Lamb of God slain since the foundation of the world.


Whom say ye that He is?????

Mark 8:27-29

• 27.
• From that place Jesus and His disciples went to the villages belonging to Caesarea Philippi. On the way He began to ask His disciples, "Who do people say that I am?"

• 28.
• "John the Baptist," they replied, "but others say Elijah, and others, that it is one of the Prophets."

• 29.
• Then He asked them pointedly, "But you yourselves, who do you say that I am?" "You are the Christ," answered Peter.

Weymouth New Testament

The Price and Promise of Forgiveness

Hurt people hurt people. Damaged lives crash into other lives exponentially compounding the damage in both lives.

This is the tragedy of life.

Yet in every tragedy there is a hope in the possibility of a new beginning.

In nature the lone animal, decrepit with age, falls lifeless in the lonely woods.
It's from the midst of seeming hopelessness rises the first buds of a young sapling breaking free from the confines of earth. It itself having been nurture by the decaying flesh of the the same animal that had died alone weeks before.

Out of Death, Life. Out of Despair, Hope. Out of betrayal comes forgiveness and the restoration of trust.

This is the cycle and the pattern of a deeper life. Forgiveness is the first light of hope in an otherwise dark and hopeless landscape.

We have all both been offended and caused offense. Years of sacred trust can die in a moment of indiscretion.

So is this death of trust and security the end??? Is the betrayal of a vow or pledge the final death knell of a once beautiful and flourishing relationship???

It doesn't have to be.

Sometimes the most blessed and beautiful union can be forged from the dying remnants of a love once strong and secure that has been betrayed.

How is this possible???

It's possible by returning once again to Love.

Love covers the multitude of sins and love at the same time chooses to believe the best of all it comes in contact.

• 8.
• Above all continue to love one another fervently, for love throws a veil over a multitude of faults.

If after repentance we would elect to love one another both love and even trust can be restored.

Return to love.

Return to trust in the never failing power of God's redemptive loving grace that forgave the betrayal of man and restored to him even more in Christ than what our forefather Adam forfeited by the ultimate betrayal and treason of the Garden.

Forgiveness cost Jesus His life.

Romans 5:6-8

• 6.
• For already, while we were still helpless, Christ at the right moment died for the ungodly.

• 7.
• Why, it is scarcely conceivable that any one would die for a simply just man, although for a good and lovable man perhaps some one, here and there, will have the courage even to lay down his life.

• 8.
• But God gives proof of His love to us in Christ's dying for us while we were still sinners.

You can be sure that it will cost you something but in the end the sweet smelling harvest of redemptive restoration makes the former decay a faint and distant memory.

So by love forgive. Reap the benefits of a force that never fails and abounds with the restorative creative power of the seed of the very Love of God. (Romans 5:5)