RULE AND REIGN LORD


If truth be told, I’m reasonably sure, no one knows what it is like to serve a “Lord” these days. The true meaning of the word originates form an earlier time back in history. From generation to generation the expanse of time makes it difficult for our contemporary culture to fully appreciate the depth of its significance.  We have elected local, state, and national officials along with others in our society to whom we “give” authority. By contrast, in those by-gone days, “lords” had complete and sovereign control over everything within their territory. They had unrestricted control over everyone and everything under their authority. To acknowledge someone as “lord” meant that you obeyed their ownership and authority over your life without hesitation. 

Using the focal lens of history, stop and think for a moment about the following question:  Is Jesus the Lord of your life?  Really?  I confess there are times when Jesus is NOT Lord of my life in the way that He should be.  There are parts of my life that become basically “mine,” and I struggle to give them over to His lordship.  For many Christians Jesus is simply reduced to a convenience or merely someone who can pull them out of trouble when they get in too deep.

Jesus calls us to give our lives over to Him as Lord.  If He is Lord, doesn’t it just make sense that we would obey everything He calls us to do?  The apostle Paul put it this way; “It's God we are answerable to — all the way from life to death and everything in between …. That's why Jesus lived and died and then lived again: so that he could be our Lord and Master across the entire range of life and death”— Romans 14:8-9 THE MESSAGE.

God designed life to make sense when we let Him rule and reign in our lives. Thank God that He is perfect in our every weakness and in our stubbornness! Thank God that Jesus is patient with us even in our stubbornness, and continues to call us to give over our lives in obedience to Him. May we all have the courage to let Jesus truly be Lord of our lives.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 80-20 Rule

In 1906, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto created a mathematical formula to describe the unequal distribution of wealth in his country, observing that twenty percent of the people owned eighty percent of the wealth. The Pareto Principle, or 80/20 rule, states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.   Although this rule was first applied in Italy when Pareto was looking at the dispersal of wealth, it has since become a rule of thumb for many businesses.   It has been said that 20% of your workforce does 80% of the work, or 80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients.   I think this law comes into play in our lives as well.   Life is 20% what happens to you and 80% what you make of it. There are tons of stories about people who come out of difficult situations — gang life, in and out of jail, drug addiction, broken families, abuse – yet still seem to rise to the top.   And of course, there are many stories of those who have been given everything they would n
Read more

FREEDOM’S PRICE

In 1781, the Fourth of July was named a national holiday and today fireworks, parades and picnics still mark this celebration. Because on July 4, 1776 The Declaration of Independence proclaimed the thirteen colonies free from British rule. What proceeded and followed this declaration were the historic battles still taught in every elementary school. For six years the colonies shook with the Battles of Concord and Lexington, Bunker Hill and Saratoga. The war finally ended at Valley Forge where British General Cornwallis surrendered to what would be the United States’ first president, George Washington. Two years later the British and the Americans signed a peace treaty in France. Freedom does not come without a price. Through the Revolutionary War our nation’s freedom was paid for by the blood and sacrifice of the men and women who fought for their dream of what would become the United States. The battles were not easy, and the years took their toll on our young nation. In t
Read more

WALK THE TALK

As far as your spiritual life is concerned religious talk is not good enough. The apostle John makes this clear in his little epistle 1 John 2:4-6. If someone claims, “I know God," but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God's word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. John is not talking about sinless perfection here but rather that a Christ-follower is to relate to others the way Jesus did. In other words we have to walk the walk like Jesus. Walking as Jesus walked begins with loving other people. Christ-followers have tried to make Christianity more difficult than it really is. We’ve make it about church membership, or a particular theological persuasion, or saying the right words during baptism, or what version of the Bible is the only one to be used. The apostle is clear. W
Read more