I have often heard people suggest that an issue for the church today is that too many of its people have accepted Jesus as their savior but that they have not made Him their lord.
Accepting Jesus as savior can mean very little. In its extreme, it can mean as little as having once prayed the sinner's prayer with no change in lifestyle at all.
But, probably more commonly, it means following up a spiritual commitment with some sort of church related piety. For most, that means a level of involvement in a local church. That involvement normally entails worship service attendance and, probably also, at least minimal financial support. It, of course, could also mean small group participation and membership in committees and councils and commissions of the local church, and, perhaps, even the church's denomination, if that is applicable.
Making Jesus lord, for some, may include any level of church involvement beyond worship service attendance.
But, for the purposes of this blog entry, I'm defining the Jesus as Lord thing as a more radical commitment to obedience to the teachings of the Bible, and, particularly, the hard teachings, such as those contained in the Sermon on the Mount.
So, accepting Jesus as savior means to believe in Jesus and to go to church, and all that going to church may entail.
Making Jesus lord means a serious and intentional effort to live the life Jesus Himself lived and taught.
It's conventional wisdom that too many church people are in the first group and not in the second.
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Not so long ago, as the old year was ending, I was awake at night and doing some reflection. And, I had a disturbing moment of self-awareness.
I know that, in so many ways I'm unlike other people.
I grew up in the 60s, in 1967, the summer of love, in 68 the year of the hippie riots at the Democratic National Convention, in 69 the year of Woodstock, though I didn't attend. And, I embraced the spirit of that age...
...I was like everyone else who wanted to be different than everyone else.
I am, by nature, different than most people...
...and, eventually, I realized that I liked that about myself, and even in a sinful way, I believe, took pride in it.
I am, honestly, different...as people gifted prophetically...probably must be.
So, as I lay awake that night, reflecting, I was disturbed by the sudden realization that my life of faith is out of balance, that, unlike the more typical person, if anything...
I have made Jesus my lord so much so that I've, at the very least, undervalued the truth that I must also live with Him as my savior.
The disturbing truth is that I look down on people who've merely accepted Jesus without living under His lordship, that I too rarely do important things people do when they embrace Jesus as savior.
The truth is that Jesus is both savior and lord.
A balanced life of discipleship involves living as a person who has been saved by Him AND submitting to His teaching and example, because submitting to Him is what His lordship demands.
I could easily write a hundred justifications for not respecting people who do only the savior thing, and many would be legitimate on a basic level, but the truth is that I invest far too little energy in living the life of a man Jesus saved.
My life is out of balance.
I must repent.
In one sense, of course, by writing this, I have repented. I have begun the process of re-thinking.
What lies ahead for me is the walking of the insight that my walk in Him is seriously out of balance.
For me, of all people, to talk this insight without striving to walk it would be the most atrocious hypocrisy.
Attaining that balance will be tricky but I need to do it.
I need to change the direction of my walk.
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