What if I knew then what I know now?
How many times do you find yourself asking that question? If the answer is “rarely,” then start. That question is how you improve. It’s how you get better. It’s how you stop repeating the same mistakes. It’s how you acquire wisdom.
But there is one question you cannot afford to get wrong.
Jesus asked His disciples, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:15)
You are free to answer that question any way you like. God gave you that freedom. But your answer will be either right or wrong, and the stakes are eternal. Get it right, and you are wise. Get it wrong, and you are lost. I’m not saying that to frighten you. I’m saying it because I care about you, and I want you to get it right.
So how do you get it right? Spend time in God’s Word every day. If you try and still struggle, at least you tried. God honors a heart that keeps coming back to the page.
Here are two verses that speak the truth plainly:
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:12-13)
Read the last phrase again. To whom we must give account.
Not to a boss. Not to a board. Not to the crowd. To God. Every thought. Every attitude. Every hidden corner. Nothing is concealed, and no one is exempt.
That is a sobering truth. It should be. But sit with it a little longer, because the same chapter of Scripture does not leave us there.
The Purchaser and the Price
Think about umpires, referees, and judges. Without them, no dispute can be settled. Now consider the largest dispute in history: a sinful human race on one side, a holy God on the other. It demanded a mediator, someone who could stand between heaven and earth and satisfy both God’s justice and our need for mercy.
God Himself sent the only One qualified: the God-man, Jesus Christ.
“Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” (Hebrews 7:25)
The great pastor Jonathan Edwards saw it clearly. Everything the redeemed possess comes to us from God by a mediator, “and this mediator is God.” Edwards put it this way: God is both the purchaser and the price.
Let that land. The One who will hold you to account is the One who paid your account in full. Christ offered Himself as the price of our salvation. “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people” (1 Timothy 2:5-6). The price of our rebellion was high. It demanded the death of the Mediator. And His response was love personified: “He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself” (Hebrews 7:27b).
So here is where the two passages meet.
Hebrews 4 tells us we will give an account. Hebrews 7 tells us who stands beside us when we do. Either you come to God through Jesus and are saved completely, which is everlasting life, which is wisdom. Or you stand alone before the One to whom nothing is hidden, which is damnation.
That is the whole choice. And it is why “Who do you say Jesus is?” is the one question you can’t get wrong.
Neighbor, you have God to thank that He did all of this for you.
Your Part Today
Don’t just take my word for it. Take His. Open your Bible to Hebrews 7:11-28 and read it slowly, with a cup of coffee and an open heart. If you don’t have a copy of The Family Wins Devotional, visit mindwolves.com/tfw and get yours for free.
A godly husband isn’t made in a day. Neither is a godly wife, father, or mother. They are made in moments like this one. One verse. One choice. One day at a time.
Years from now, you won’t have to ask, “If I knew then what I know now?” You’ll already know. You’ll have opened the Word, and you’ll have answered the question rightly.
Feed the Good Wolf.