John and Lisa's Blue Skies Blog – Soaring with God

“When Jesus came to the neighborhood of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples this question:  ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’  They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptizer, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’  ‘And you,’ he said to them, ‘who do you say that I am?’  Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!'”
— Matthew 16:13-16

The word Messiah means Christ or Savior.  However, “Christ” is much bigger than the historical person we know as Jesus of Nazareth.  Christ has always existed and continues to exist.  The Savior who has always existed came to earth as Jesus to show us the way to be saved.  Jesus taught that the way to salvation is total self-sacrifice to the will of God – which means giving up selfishness in order to love God and love neighbor fully.  Jesus’ death saved us from the fundamental sin (otherwise known as “original sin”) of duality, which is the basis of all other sins.  Duality causes us to “miss the mark” of oneness with God and with all.  When we willingly die (rather than being forced to die) to duality in each moment, we follow Jesus and find new life.