Is Jesus Truly Your Lord?
I grew up in church singing a popular kid’s song, “The Wise Man Built His House Upon The Rock.”
Performing the motions with the song’s melody emphasizes what happens when the rains come down and the floods go up. The wise man’s house stood firm, while the foolish man’s house went splat (watch the latest message to see why the Holy Spirit gives good gifts).
It didn’t occur to me until years later that the message in this fun kid’s song is a bit terrifying.
The song was based on a parable of Jesus that begins with some sobering words from Jesus to his followers. He said,
“So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?” (Luke 6:46)
Matthew’s Gospel records Jesus being much more direct,
“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my father in heaven will enter” (Matthew 7:21).
For many years of my Christian life, I knew Jesus as my Savior. I believed in Jesus because I heard the good news that God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, and whoever believes in him won’t perish but have the gift of eternal life (John 3:16).
It was easy for me to understand Jesus as Savior, but it took me a while to understand what living with Jesus as my Lord meant (click here to know more about Jesus).
Here are a few questions I’ve been asking myself recently to examine my life. You can also ask yourself these same questions:
1) Is Jesus the Lord of every area of your life?
Is Jesus Lord of my schedule, my time, my money, my words, my home, my family, my marriage, my children, my work, my phone, my computer, my mind, my body, my relationships, my friendships, my past, my present, my future, my failures, my successes, my decisions — Is he Lord of everything? If he’s not, what will I do about it?
2) Are you regularly seeking the Lord about what you should and should not be doing?
I’ve noticed that it’s easy to let life happen and fill my life with doing many things that the Lord never prompted me to do. On the other hand, I’ve seen some people get out of balance on this where they get frozen in life because they’re not sure if the Lord is leading them to do certain things, so they don’t do anything. I don’t need to ask the Lord if I should take out the trash.
The apostle Paul was an example of incorporating this idea in prayer:
“So we keep on praying for you,” Paul says. “Asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do” (2 Thessalonians 1:11).
You will not be able to live a life worthy of his call without the Holy Spirit’s power enabling you to do so. Living by the power of the Holy Spirit activates your faith in Jesus and your trust in God’s wisdom, giving you the ability to accomplish what he prompts you to do.
The verse above is a helpful prayer for building confidence that you are doing what the Lord wants you to do.
It’s also a helpful guide for how to pray for others.
3) Have you asked the Lord if how you’re living your life is pleasing to him?
Too often, I’ve prayed something like, “Lord, may what I say and do be pleasing to you.”
Recently, I’ve been turning that statement into a question: Lord, is what I’m doing pleasing to you?
Are there things I’m doing that are not honoring you?
Paul clarifies that honoring the name of Jesus results from living a life worthy of God’s calling by the power of the Holy Spirit. He writes,
“Then, the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you will be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1:12).
Take a few moments today to reflect on Jesus as Savior and Lord.
If you desire to know Jesus as Lord, it’s a good practice to examine your life in humility and reverence before God. Thankfully, he gives grace to the humble.