~~~ Jeremiah 31:31-34 ~~~ Psalm 51 ~~~ Matthew 16:13-23 ~~~
Jeremiah leads us right into the psalm 51...
Create a clean heart in me, O God.
God revealed to Jeremiah that there would be a new covenant his people.
"I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts;
I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
God himself would create this new, clean heart.
A heart that desires to be steadfast...
A heart that desires to be in the presence of God...
A heart that desires to be united with the Holy Spirit...
A heart that desires saving joy...
A heart that desires to always have a willing spirit...
A heart that desires to be contrite and humbled.
God and the psalmist are very ambitious with their desires.
There is no excuse for not knowing God;
he put the desire to know him into your heart himself.
One day as Jesus is talking with the disciples he poses
an important question.
"Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
It is easy to give answers for another person.
You are not required to have insight into what
their answer would actually be.
You just answer by what you have heard them say.
Jesus is not content
to let that be the end of the conversation;
he goes deeper.
Have you noticed how God can do that, get you to go deeper?
He is interested in your answers because he wants
you to have a relationship with him.
If you cannot answer his next question perhaps you might
examine your heart more closely.
"But who do you say that I am?"
I know you have heard this verse many times before,
but today picture Jesus standing before you.
He looks into your eyes as he asks
'who do YOU say that I am?'
He wants to know what is in your heart.
Is his new covenant of the heart really residing within your heart?
This is a personal question...only you know the answer.
No one is going to make you proclaim your answer before others.
This personal question is a wonderful clue to how much
God desires your heart.
You do not ask questions such as this of those you do not care about.
If God did not love you he would not care who you thought he was.
God does not need us to validate who he is for his sake.
God wants you to validate who he is for you--- for your own sake.
To know who God is for you is to better love him.
To know who God is for you means to love him more.
This all relates back to the clean, contrite, and humble heart we desire;
a desire placed there by the very same God who asks the question.
"But who do you say that I am?"
Once you can truthfully answer that question
you will ultimately have the heart you desire.
You will know without a doubt that God is for you.
You will know that you are His.
