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.  These books were purchased far in advance of their intended distribution date yet 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 and the package did not require a signature so, we had to order them again. This time we kept much better track of the package and when our purchaser saw that they had “been delivered” again, he started looking for them right away, to no avail.  He finally contacted the service that was responsible for the delivery and they said, “oh, your carrier hasn’t even been to your building yet”.  To which he replied “then why did the carrier enter into the system that the package was delivered an hour ago”.  The person on the phone had no answer for his question.  When all those who had been a part of looking for these packages heard, and found out that the service was to blame all along, 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 due service, obedience, honor and glory.  Do we serve and honor Him with that kind of reverence?  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 the 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 and help us live our lives?

4. Jesus/God – He was mocked, beaten, suffered and gave us His earthly life, so that you and I could have an eternal life, with Him.  Shouldn’t we at least be willing to live our earthly lives for Him?

When our lives begin to drift off the path, when our anger begins to get the best of us, when we begin to slip back into old sinful habits, when we lack peace and joy and/or even when relationships with those around us begin to get more tumultuous, maybe we should begin to 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. He needs to be in charge. He needs to be LORD.

I pray that today we would ask ourselves, “who, has, been running this thing?” and really examine our hearts and lives to see if it is Jesus or us. I pray that we would be happy to take a back seat to Jesus and let Him 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 Him, submitting to His will and leading and glorifying Him 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.

If you are still trying to control your life and the situations in it, I pray that you would recognize, like I did, what a mess we make of our lives and that you would submit to Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. 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. Somehow we become convinced that giving someone, even Jesus, control of our lives is dangerous and that is better to control things ourselves. 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 and experience His love, forgiveness and leading. Please pray that prayer and once you do, 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!