He’s my Lord because I obey!

“So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?”

Luke 6:46 New Living Translation

Jesus has gone from preaching to meddling. He’s just given the crowds his philosophy of living … ‘the Beatitudes.’ He’s instructed them to love their enemies, quit judging others, learn to give freely and to quit worrying about the speck in the eye of another while trying to see through a log in their own.

But his question to them continues to mess with me. It’s a very basic question that should stop us in our tracks to inspect the way we’re following our ‘Lord.’ His probing concerns our interpretation of the title “Lord.” What does it mean? How far reaching are its implications?

We no longer use the term lord as they did generations ago, but we are aware of the meaning. The term boss comes to mind – one possessing authority, power, and control.

Imagine a boss inquiring, “Did you clean up the back room as I asked?” “Did you finish installing the spark plugs as I asked?” “Did you finish those calls to our customers that I asked you to make?” “Did you make that last delivery you were assigned?”

Now listen to the employee’s response: “Well, no boss. I didn’t do it.”

And the employer’s retort? “And you call me ‘boss’ why? I’m not sure you know what boss really means.”

For a Christian to call Jesus ‘Lord’ means some very life-altering things. Consider: He gets to call the shots … set the boundaries … establish the norms. We play by his rules and consider important what is vital to him, not us. We give up control while He takes control. His agenda becomes our life work.

This sounds dangerous!

And it would be if our Lord wasn’t a loving Lord. But He has proven his commitment to us by putting our salvation before his own desires. He ‘who knew no sin’ actually became sin and accepted its penalty to keep us from having to suffer sin’s eternal consequence.

He has proven to not only deserve the title of Lord of Lords, but carries out its duties with love, fairness and tender administration. And the result of allowing the Lord to be our Lord and following him with obedience and expectancy?

We will be “like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built.” Luke 6:48 New Living Translation

 This week I want to call him Lord because He is my Lord.