I feel a stirring to challenge us all today about the area of Lordship in our lives. When we declare “Jesus is Lord”, what do we mean? The word ‘Lord’ means: Supreme in authority, that is controller. Is Jesus Christ Supreme in authority in your life? The answer to that is not our confession but our action – our obedience to God’s word.
Lordship is best summed up for me by the words of Jesus in the garden. He was in anguish of spirit about the cross and the agony and suffering He was about to endure. He was about to be separated from His Father for the first time ever because of the stench of the filth of sin that was going to be placed upon Him. Here was sinless perfection, holiness and light about to become sin incarnate – just the thought of it must have repulsed Him and broken His heart.
It was at this time, it was with this weighing like a crushing force on His heart, that He uttered the famous words of absolute surrender –“Not My will, but Yours be done”. This is the evidence of Lordship; Jesus was completely submitted to the authority of the Father. Jesus put aside every ‘right’ He had in order to fulfill the Father’s will for His life.
What are we willing to put aside for the cause of Christ? What are we willing to ‘give up’ at the Father’s command? Not ‘what are we willing to declare Lordship over, but what are we willing to fully submit in action to the will of God’?
‘Not my will, but Yours be done’. What powerful words - but what more powerful action. When was the last time you declared theses words? When was the last time you declared these words when the cost was more than you thought you would bear?
There is a cost to following Christ. There is a denying of self, a laying down of our own agenda. But God knows best. God sees the big picture. He alone knows exactly what He is doing, even more importantly, why He is doing it.
Will you trust him - completely?
Will you surrender and submit to His Lordship- completely?
Will you dare to live a life that is not your own - completely?
Lordship is a sign of spiritual maturity and is a path to the Father’s heart.
