Parson to Person - Who do you trust?

We live in a world of public opinion polls, especially in the area of political matters. Candidates for office spend a lot of time trying to figure out what they need to do to win votes. They are trying to figure out what people are putting their trust in. The candidates want people to put their trust in them.

In Mark, chapter 8, verse 27, we see our Lord Jesus taking his own form of public opinion poll. ?And Jesus went on with his disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asked his disciples, ?Who do men say that I am??? Jesus wants to find out who the people are putting their trust in.

The disciples answer that some people thought that Jesus was one of the great servants of God, either John the Baptist or Elijah, come back to the earth. Other people thought that Jesus might be a prophet.

Then Jesus makes the opinion poll much more personal. ?But who do you say that I am?? And Peter lets Jesus know that they think he is the Messiah.

Jesus goes on to teach that he must undergo great suffering; be rejected by the religious leaders; killed; that after being dead for three days, he would live again. Peter reprimands Jesus for saying these things.

Peter objects to Jesus? promised suffering because Peter had made considerable sacrifices to follow Jesus. He had left a thriving fishing business. He staked his future on the expectation that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah who would restore the fortunes of Israel and save the people.

This teaching of suffering, rejection and death was not what Peter expected.

Maybe we find ourselves in the same place as Peter when we examine our own faith. Who are we banking on? Who are we putting our trust in? It is a good question to finish each day with. Who was I banking on today? Many days, for me, the answer would be myself. I trusted in myself. I depended upon myself. Other days, it would be someone else that I depend upon, like my family and friends. There needs to be more days when I totally put my trust in Jesus.

Has our faith in Jesus given us what we expected? Should our faith protect us from suffering? Should our faith bring us financial success? Is this what we want and expect from God? Does Jesus value the same things that we value? Or are we trusting in human things, instead of divine things?

This cross which brought Jesus shame and identified him as a criminal, brought to us a new and endless life with God. A life that is given to us as a gift. This is what we can depend on. Trusting that what Jesus did on the cross was enough to bring salvation to you.