“For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.” Romans 14:7-9
Our office recently ordered some books. When these books were purchased, it was far in advance of their intended distribution. But, after several weeks, they had not been received. As our purchaser looked into things, we found that they had “been delivered” already. Yet, no one could track them down. The books could not be located anywhere. And the package did not require a signature. We all began to wonder about this company and thought, “Who is running this thing?”
So, we had to order them again. This time we kept much better track of the package. Our purchaser kept watching the tracking. Then, suddenly, it said that the package had “been delivered” again. We began looking for the package immediately… to no avail. Our purchaser finally contacted the service that was responsible for the delivery. They said, “Oh, your carrier hasn’t even been to your building yet.” Our purchaser asked, “Then why did the carrier enter into the system that the package was delivered an hour ago?” But the person on the phone had no answer.
When we heard about this second mishap with the delivery of the packages, we felt like asking, “Who is running this thing?”
I am sure that we have all had similar situations in one form or another.
Do we ever ask that question of our own lives though? Who is running this thing?
If I were to stand up in Church and say, “Jesus is Lord”, I would probably get a lot of amens and Hallelujiahs. But, if we are honest with ourselves and others, we would confess that a portion of the time — those times when things aren’t going so great — we are running our own lives. We are the Lord of our lives and WE are the ones running this thing.
The definition of the word Lord is: “one having power and authority over others”, “a ruler by hereditary right or preeminence to whom service and obedience are due”, “one that has achieved mastery or that exercises leadership or great power in some area” or “Jesus/God”.
Let’s look at these individually:
1. One having power and authority over others – “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Matthew 28:18. God has given Jesus all authority in and over heaven and earth. He has authority over EVERYTHING. Do we treat Him with that kind of respect? Do we submit to His authority over our lives?
2. A ruler by hereditary right or preeminence to whom service and obedience are due – “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.” John 3:35. He is the very Son of God and therefore is worthy of our service, obedience, honor, and glory. Do we serve and honor Him with that kind of reverence? And do we submit to His Kingship? Do we obey and allow Him to be ruler over our lives?
3. One that has achieved mastery or that exercises leadership or great power – “Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.” John 13:13. No one has mastered this human life the way that Jesus did. No one commands the power that He does. If He was able to live this life perfectly, why wouldn’t we let Him be the one to rule over and help us live our lives?
4. Jesus/God – He was mocked, beaten, suffered, and gave up His earthly life so that you and I could have eternal life with Him. Shouldn’t we at least be willing to live our earthly lives for Him?
Our lives will drift off course. Our anger will get the best of us. We will begin to slip back into old sinful habits. We will lack peace and joy. And relationships with those around us will get tumultuous. When those things begin to happen, we should ask ourselves, “Who is running this thing?”
Because those are all signs of us pushing Jesus out of the driver’s seat and into just being a passenger. Jesus is not — nor should He be — our co-pilot. He needs to be driving. And He needs to be in charge. He needs to be LORD.
Father, I pray that today You would help us to reflect and ask ourselves, “Who has been running this thing?” And I pray that we would really examine our hearts and lives to see if the Lord of our lives is Jesus… or us. Help us desire to take a back seat to You, Jesus. Help us to let You drive and direct our lives. I pray that we would have a level of submission to Him, the likes of which we have never had before. I pray that we would live our lives for You, submitting to Your will and leading and glorifying You to those around us.
Allow yourself to rest in and submit to God and be used by Him to draw others into a saving knowledge of Himself. Let Him “run this thing” and be Lord of your life.
If your life is a series of unfortunate catastrophes, I am here to tell you that I can relate. My life used to look like that too… before Jesus. We make absolute messes of our lives. But God wants to bring order to our chaos. He wants to bring healing to our wounds. And He wants to bring forgiveness for our sin. If you are tired of trying to fix your life and all of the problems in it, I pray that you would go to our Life Preserver page (http://forgiven-n-loved.com/Life-Preserver/) and pray the prayer that is outlined there. Submit to Jesus Christ and ask Him to be your personal Lord and Savior.
Somehow, we become convinced that giving someone (even Jesus) control of our lives is dangerous and that it is better to control things ourselves. But the truth of the matter is that His leading in our lives is one of the most freeing things that we can do. He loves you and desires good things for you… things that you cannot yet imagine. Trust Him and experience His love, forgiveness, healing, and leading. Please pray that prayer on our Life Preserver page. And, once you have, please reach out to me at Forgiven-N-Loved.com and let me know so that I can be in prayer for you.
Luv Ya!
