Who Do You Say That He Is?

🎧 Prefer to listen? Press play below and follow along as I read this week’s blog.

Hi, I’m Tameka, and welcome to another week of Grace Across Borders.

A friend shared one of her daily YouTube devotions with me Monday morning. I was doing my daughter’s hair while listening, and before she really got into the devotion, she began by declaring who Jesus is.

And something in me stopped.

Well, not physically—I was still doing hair. But something in my spirit stopped and listened.

Because suddenly I realized that somehow, Jesus had been showing up in my conversations all week.

Different people. Different settings. Different conversations. But somehow, we kept coming back to the same subject:

Jesus.

Even on Saneka’s birthday on the first, Jesus became part of the conversation—particularly why more people don’t believe in Him.

Oh, Happy birthday, Saneka. Though I didn’t give birth to you, you will always be considered my firstborn. ❤️Love you!

But back to Jesus.

The questions that kept surfacing were bigger than I expected.

Who is Jesus?

Is He really the Son of God?

Is He God?

Is He part of the Trinity?

Was He simply a prophet—a man sent by God with a message—or is He actually the Christ?

And what surprised me most was hearing some of these questions from people who identify themselves as Christians.

I’ve heard variations of, “I’m a Christian, but I don’t believe Jesus is God,” or, “I believe in Jesus, but I believe He was a prophet.”

And I kept coming back to one question:

How do we separate Christianity from Christ?

Then Monday morning, while I was doing my daughter’s hair, my friend began her devotion by firmly establishing who Jesus is.

And there it was.

I knew what I needed to write about this week.

If you’d like to hear the daily devotion that helped bring all these conversations together for me, you can watch her YouTube devotion here.

Because before I can talk about what Jesus does for me, I first have to answer the question:

Who do I believe He is?

Scripture

Who Do You Say That I Am?

Interestingly enough, questions about Jesus’ identity are nothing new.

Jesus Himself asked His disciples:

“Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?”
— Matthew 16:13, KJV

Their answer tells us that even then, people had different opinions:

“Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.”
— Matthew 16:14, KJV

Some thought He was John the Baptist. Some Elijah. Some Jeremiah. Others simply placed Him among the prophets.

But Jesus wasn’t conducting an opinion poll.

His next question changed everything:

“But whom say ye that I am?”
— Matthew 16:15, KJV

Peter answered:

“Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
— Matthew 16:16, KJV

Peter’s answer matters to me because Peter walked with Jesus.

He wasn’t working from somebody else’s story.

He sat under Jesus’ teaching. He watched Him minister. He witnessed His miracles. He heard His words.

And when Peter called Him “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus didn’t correct him.

He didn’t say, Peter, you’ve gone too far.

He didn’t say, No, I’m merely a prophet.

Instead, Jesus said:

“Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”
— Matthew 16:17, KJV

In other words, Peter didn’t stumble onto the right answer.

The Father revealed it.

And Scripture gives us something even more direct.

At Jesus’ baptism, a voice from heaven declared:

“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
— Matthew 3:17, KJV

At the Transfiguration, the Father declared it again:

“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.”
— Matthew 17:5, KJV

And Jesus Himself said:

“I am the Son of God.”
— John 10:36, KJV

That’s why something else my friend referenced in her devotion stayed with me:

“He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.”
— John 8:47, KJV

That’s a hard Scripture.

But it challenges me to ask whether I am willing to hear what God says even when His Word confronts what I would rather believe.

I can’t quote Scripture when I need comfort, stand on its promises when I’m struggling, and then ignore what that same Scripture tells me about Jesus.

And His identity matters because Jesus said:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
— John 14:6, KJV

John 3:16 tells us that God gave His “only begotten Son” so that those who believe in Him may have everlasting life.

Romans 10:9 tells us to confess “the Lord Jesus” and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead.

And then Romans 10:13 says:

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

So Scripture brings me back to the same question Jesus asked Peter:

“But whom say ye that I am?”

That’s the question I have to answer for myself.

Folklore

The Empty Pot

There is a Chinese tale about a boy named Ping who had a gift for growing things.

Whatever he planted seemed to flourish.

One day, the emperor needed to choose a successor, so he gave a seed to each child in the kingdom. He told them to take the seed home, care for it, and eventually return with what they had grown.

Ping was delighted.

Growing things was what he did best.

He planted his seed carefully.

He watered it.

He waited.

Nothing happened.

He changed the soil.

Still nothing.

He moved it to another pot and gave it everything he knew a seed needed.

Nothing grew.

Meanwhile, the other children were producing beautiful plants.

When the day came to return to the emperor, Ping was surrounded by children carrying magnificent flowers.

And Ping?

He had an empty pot.

Imagine how embarrassing that must have felt for a child known for growing things.

But Ping went before the emperor anyway.

When the emperor asked why his pot was empty, Ping told the truth.

He had planted the seed.

He had watered it.

He had cared for it.

He had tried everything he knew.

But it simply wouldn’t grow.

Then the emperor revealed the truth:

Every seed he had distributed had been cooked.

None of them could have grown.

The other children had substituted different seeds.

Suddenly, Ping’s empty pot wasn’t evidence of failure.

It was evidence of honesty.

He was willing to stand before the emperor holding the truth, even when everybody around him had something prettier to present.

And that stayed with me.

Because sometimes truth isn’t the prettiest thing in the room.

Sometimes what everybody else is carrying looks more comfortable, more attractive, or more acceptable.

But truth doesn’t become less true because another answer is more popular.

And neither does Jesus become someone different because people have different opinions about who He is.

Peter’s confession didn’t make Jesus the Christ. Peter recognized who Jesus already was.

Our belief doesn’t create His identity.

And our disbelief doesn’t erase it.

Reflection

Without Apology

There are plenty of things Christians debate.

We debate doctrine.

We debate what day is the Sabbath.

We debate what is right and wrong.

Sometimes we even debate who we think is going to heaven and who isn’t.

But after all the conversations I’ve had recently, I’ve realized that there is something I need to be able to say plainly:

I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

And I believe that without apology.

That isn’t a declaration of my perfection.

Anybody who knows me knows better. 😂

I’ve questioned things.

I’ve wrestled with God.

I’ve gotten things wrong.

I’ve fallen short.

I’ve needed—and still need—grace.

But this isn’t simply theology on a page for me.

This is the Jesus I have called on.

I’ve called His name when I was afraid.

I’ve called His name when life didn’t make sense.

I’ve called His name when my strength was gone.

I’ve called His name when I needed peace.

I’ve called His name when I needed deliverance.

I’ve called His name when I needed somebody greater than me to step into something I couldn’t fix myself.

And I have experienced Him answering me.

People can debate His name.

They can debate languages, translations, pronunciations and titles.

I’ve heard those conversations too.

But I know this:

When I call on the name of Jesus, He answers.

He responds.

He delivers.

That’s why Romans 10:13 means something personal to me:

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

And it makes me wonder:

Who do you call on?

I’ve watched people insist that they don’t believe in Jesus or even in God, yet when life becomes frightening enough, somehow “Lord, help me!” or “Jesus!” comes out.

I’m not saying that as a gotcha.

I’m certainly not mocking anyone.

It actually makes me wonder what is buried deeper inside us than we’re sometimes willing to admit.

And maybe the better question is:

Why wait for the emergency?

Why wait for the diagnosis?

The accident?

The heartbreak?

The midnight phone call?

Why wait until our own strength finally admits, I can’t do this by myself, before we think seriously about who we’re calling?

For me, life has already answered something.

I needed more than a prophet.

I needed a Savior.

And here’s where I have to be clear about something.

I respect another person’s right to believe that Jesus was only a prophet. God gave each of us the freedom to choose what we believe.

What I struggle to understand is claiming Christianity while removing the very Christ Christianity is built upon.

For me, those two things simply cannot be separated.

And when God says of Jesus, “This is my beloved Son,” I believe Him.

Maybe being a mother makes that declaration especially powerful to me.

If somebody walked up to me and said my children aren’t mine simply because they don’t believe they’re mine, their opinion wouldn’t change my relationship with my children.

I know who belongs to me.

So when the Father says, “This is my beloved Son,” I’m not going to argue God out of His own declaration.

His Father has already claimed Him.

And there’s another reason this matters personally to me.

Jesus promised His followers the Holy Spirit:

“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.”
— John 14:16, KJV

For more than a year of writing Grace Across Borders, I’ve depended on the Holy Spirit.

I’ve prayed about what to write.

When to write.

When to speak.

When to be quiet.

What to say.

And sometimes what not to say.

There have been weeks when I’ve sat down with absolutely no idea where the blog was going and simply asked the Holy Spirit to lead me.

So for me, I can’t happily receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit while dismissing the Christ who promised Him.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit each have purpose and value in my life.

That’s what I believe.

Grace Across Borders

Conviction With Grace

But here’s something else I believe:

You have the freedom to disagree with me.

God gave us free will, and I’m grateful for that.

So without apology doesn’t mean without love.

It doesn’t mean without humility.

It doesn’t mean without patience.

And it certainly doesn’t mean without grace.

I don’t have to tear down what you believe in order to stand firmly in what I believe.

I can listen to you.

I can respect you.

I can love you.

I can make room for your questions.

And I can still say:

Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and He is Lord and Savior over my life.

That’s where grace comes in.

Grace reminds me that I didn’t come to Christ because I had every answer right.

I came because I needed a Savior.

I can give somebody else room to wrestle because I’ve wrestled too.

I can give somebody room to ask questions because I’ve had questions too.

I can respect someone else’s freedom because God gave me freedom too.

But grace doesn’t require me to erase Jesus to make room for somebody else.

There is room for you at my table, and there is room for Christ there too.

That’s what Grace Across Borders looks like to me in this conversation.

Grace crosses the places where we disagree without pretending those disagreements don’t exist.

It lets me reach across the border without abandoning what I believe on my side of it.

And that brings me back to where we started.

Jesus asked:

“But whom say ye that I am?”

Not who does your mother say He is.

Not who does your pastor say He is.

Not who does your friend say He is.

Not even who does Tameka say He is.

Who do YOU say that He is?

That’s a question each of us has to answer for ourselves.

I know my answer.

He is Jesus Christ.

He is the Son of the living God.

He is my Savior.

He is my Lord.

You are free to choose your answer.

And thank God for that freedom.

But as for me?

Joshua 24:15 says:

“As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Without hatred.

Without arrogance.

Without disrespecting your freedom to choose.

But also:

Without hesitation.

Without dilution.

And without apology.

Prayer

Father,

Thank You for Jesus.

Thank You for His life, His sacrifice, His resurrection, His intercession, and the hope and salvation we have through Him.

Thank You for the Holy Spirit, our Comforter and Guide.

Give me conviction without arrogance, boldness without cruelty, and truth wrapped in love.

Help me to make room for those who are questioning and searching, remembering that I too have needed grace along the way.

But don’t let my desire to be accepted cause me to become ashamed of what I believe.

When the voices around me offer different answers about Jesus, bring me back to His question:

“But whom say ye that I am?”

And let my life—not only my words—give my answer.

Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God.

He is my Lord.

He is my Savior.

And as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Without apology.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.