Sometimes we just don’t like what is happening around us.  Politics seems more and more accusatory and petty. While gas prices seem stable the price of watermelon is up. Our cars are being made more comfortable yet the streets we drive them on are full of pot holes and ruts. I am trying to reduce my weight, but lately the digital scale will not change.  We want worship in the church to be a glorious and splendiferous experience but it doesn’t quite reach the edge of heaven on earth.

So, what are we looking for?  Do our cultural standards dictate our perception of how we should then live?  In Mark 8:27 there is a question posed by Jesus.  “Who do the people say I am?”

In response, they reported back what the crowd was saying.  They wanted to provide the cultural answer.  There was no condemnation, they didn’t want to offend their Rabbi. “A prophet, Eliljah, John the Baptizer.”

“But Jesus then asked, “And you— what are you saying about me? Who am I?”

Tough question for anyone.  Primarily because the response shapes everything else you do, everything else you believe, and everything else you are.  There is little excuse for snap decisions.  There is great importance in your response.  The answer you give will change how you react to the external. The world will be seen differently, politics become less important, our day to day existence becomes more in focus.  No snap decisions, no snap answers allowed here.

Everything becomes God’s business not our own.  And despite all our travail, we can’t change God.  You can’t change God’s will.  You can’t change God’s plan.  But you can change God’s methodology by working in and through you, instead of around you. You can change you.