Lord And Savior

We, as Christians, know that sin separates us from God and that the wages of sin is death. We know that we receive eternal life through accepting Jesus Christ. God sent Him into the world to pay the penalty for our sins; Jesus is our Savior. But He is much more than that! Jesus also has to be our Lord as well.  We cannot just say that we accept what He did to keep us from going to hell and not accept His lordship over our lives.  There is no get out of hell free card.
We understand from the parable of the weeds that there are counterfeit Christians; those who call themselves Christians, but who are not true Christians.  They want the benefits of being a Christian, but they are not willing to pay the cost. The parable tells us that at harvest time, the end of the age, the weeds – counterfeit Christians, will be pulled up and burned in the fire of the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  If we do not produce good fruit, we will be thrown into the fire. Jesus tells us that not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of God. We can’t continue to live our lives the way we want. We cannot continue to sin; we are told that anyone who continues to sin has neither seen Him nor known Him. We cannot accept Christ as our Savior without accepting Christ as our Lord.
A true Christian knows that Jesus has to be Lord and Savior. We must confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord. But what does that really mean?  We no longer live for ourselves; we live for the one who died on the cross for our sins.  We owe Him our lives. We present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service. That is the least that we can do for the One who saved us from eternal damnation. When we accept Christ, we are a new creation to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, which lives in us. We are not our own; we were bought with a price – the precious blood of Jesus.  We must put to death, mortify, whatever belongs to our earthly nature such as sexual immorality, lust, evil desires, greed, lying, filthy language, rage, and malice. We must set our hearts and minds on things above, heavenly things. We live to please God. Our lives should be filled with the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control. None of this happens overnight. As we grow and mature in Christ, go through the sanctification process, we demonstrate less and less of our earthly nature and demonstrate more and more of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.
I have learned that it is not enough to confess Jesus as our Savior, we must also confess Him as our Lord as well. We should demonstrate His lordship in our lives.  Whatever He tells us to do or not to do, our answer must always be “Yes Lord.” Otherwise, He is not our Lord. The saying is true – if He is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all. Let’s continue to grow and mature in Christ so that our lives will overflow in the fruit of the Spirit.  Are you just trying to get out of hell, or are you a true Christian?
Join the Fruit of the Spirit Messenger site and get in on the conversation, share your fruitful encouragement, receive your spiritual nourishment, and start living a fruit-filled life!  “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”

Deborah Watkins
“At Your service to do Your Will”
Deborah.Watkins@fosmessenger.com