Six Letters July 22, 2016

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Matthew 16:15-16 ESV

This verse is a pivotal point in the life of Simon Peter.  After uttering these few words, Jesus lays some pretty serious blessings on Peter.   

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 
Matthew 16:17-19 ESV

Often times it is Peter's revelation and/or the blessing that follows which receive attention from the pulpit or Sunday School teacher.  However all that would have been worthless without the promise of the one six-letter adjective:  "living".

Throughout history, people have worshiped gods and goddesses which have proven to be false.  Jupiter, Hera, Tlaloc, Yu-huang, and Odin at one time in various cultures were thought to hold the prosperity or destruction in their hands.  Anger one of these deities and pay the price!  But now they are all relegated to popular mythology and ancient stories.

But Yahweh is a living God.  The one true God.  He was with His followers through the cruelties of Nero.  He was with Christians who languished in the Russian gulags.  He was just as knowledgeable about the money changers in the temple as He is with the Dow Jones and NASDAQ.  He gets the internet.  He even understands trickle down economics! 

He is a living God.  His principles and precepts are as relevant today as when they were handed down on tablets from a mountain top.  The ancient set of Beatitudes are perhaps even more important today than when preached 2000 years ago.  God understands today's hurts, habits, and hang-ups. 

We serve a living God.  The Alpha and Omega.  There is nothing that He does not know, has not allowed, and cannot control.  When life seems too big, too fast, and too loud, seek out the living God.  He is just as close today as when Peter made his revelation in Caesarea Philippi.