I don’t know about you, but I sometimes forget just who Jesus is.

Sometimes I focus on him more a a friend, or a buddy, or even as a vending machine.

And I need to be reminded that he isn’t any of those things, at least not fully. And not at all, in the case of the vending machine.

But just who is he? Take a look at how Peter answered that question in Matthew 16:15-16:

It saddens me that I forget this. But it’s much easier to treat Jesus as that vending machine. Pray my prayers, like pushing a button, and expect the answer to just pop right out for me, instantly.

Sometimes, I treat Jesus as just a friend. I can enjoy time with my friends, but sometimes I just want them to leave me alone. Not too long ago, my son offered the kid across the street $2.00 if he would not come over and hang out for the evening. Some people try to buy friends. My kids try to pay them to leave…

But either of those options misses the point when it comes to Jesus.

He is the Messiah. He is the Christ. He is God.

He is everything to me. He is my all.

How can I forget that?

What about you? Who do you say that he is? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

When I was a kid, attending church camp at Maranatha Bible Camp, the songs we sang were completely different than the songs we sing at camps and other events today. The ones back then weren’t so much songs as they were simply choruses.

In fact, for several years, all of our camp music was written specifically for that summer’s theme by a guy who worked at one of the bigger churches in our camp system. I still have a few of the cassettes (cassettes!!!) from those weeks.

One of the songs we sang a lot was not written by that guy, but rather by a guy who lived several centuries earlier, the prophet Isaiah.

While simple, this song still has a way of getting lodged in my mind, and I will be singing it all day long today.

Take a look at the passage it’s found in, from Isaiah 55:12:

This whole passage, from verse 6 through verse 13, explain just what it means to seek after God, and further illustrates why we should do so. The first part of the passage gives us a reason for this from the nature of God (8-9). Next, we find another reason: the nature of God’s word (10-11). Our passage gives us a third reason: in the context of this earth, we can anticipate a new heaven and a new earth.

God’s creation is personified as it celebrates the removal of the curse.

That’s a reminder that I could use more frequently.

Maybe having a song such as this one stuck in my head is more of a blessing than I realize.

What reminds you of redemption? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.