Mark 8:29 — But who you say that I am?

A pivotal moment in my faith and in my experience of who God is was when I listened to episode 154 of That Sounds Fun, a podcast hosted by Annie F. Downs. Chris Rice, singer & songwriter, comments on how he hears from God. Simply put: he doesn’t. Instead, Chris Rice views his relationship with God as the ground he walks on.

The ground he walks on.

Brilliant.

I fell in love with that sentence immediately. Not only does it give me a fabulous visual—I am a visual/tactile learner—but it gave me such confidence.

I wrote a few days ago that our feelings are so intermingled with our faith. I have seen that reality time and time and time again, and it’s one reason I am real careful with saying This is from God, especially when it’s something I haven’t run by trusted faith friends and mentors. When I heard Chris Rice say that his faith and his communication with God is the ground he walks on, I thought: YES. YES IT IS. And that’s what I’m going to walk on, too.

When we declare each and every day that we know who we are in Christ because we know who Christ is, we know he is the son of God, we know God sent his son to die, we know God is the creator of the universe, when we know that we are asking and believing and trusting and hoping and wondering and asking and believing and trusting and hoping. When we’re doing all of those things, can we just go ahead and walk in that confidence?

When we’ve made the decision to declare that the Trinity is the Trinity, that God is God and Jesus is Jesus and the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit, can we just go ahead and be authentic in that? In that short scripture in Mark when Jesus asks his disciplines: who do you say that I am? Jesus has just asked, "But you…” My commentary says those two words are loaded with meaning because Jesus didn’t care what the rest of the community was saying. Jesus didn’t care that the others didn’t believe him. He wanted to know what his disciples believed. He wants to know what you believe.

During Lent, we have a set-aside/built-in opportunity for increased closeness with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. We always have the option of choice, always. God is a God of free will; that’s what makes His love unique and beautiful and transformational. So when we take the time and we take our heart and we choose to bring ourselves closer to the Messiah, the rescuer of our souls… gosh, how can we go wrong? Sometimes it’ll feel like we’ve gone wrong because a faithful heart can be costly, but it is nothing—nothing—compared to the reward of eternal joy. Eternal. Eternal. Forever. And ever. Forever and ever amen.

See if you can walk on that truth today. Even if every external factor of your life is the same today as it was yesterday, see if you can make space for your soul to walk on the sure ground that is a heavenly father who made you, who loves you, who has a purpose for you. See if you can be confident in who Jesus is and who God made you to be, right now, in this one moment. Don’t worry about five hours from now. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Don’t worry about August.

Live now.

Walk on this ground now.

May it be so.

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P.S. Chris Rice is most known to 90s kids who listened to CCM for his Cartoon Song. Listen here for a smile.