If I asked you to describe Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity, what would be the first word you’d use to describe Him? Who is He?
A common answer is “Jesus is my Saviour”. And this is one hundred percent accurate. He absolutely is our Saviour. And I love Him for it; He dealt with my biggest problem–sin and separation from God–by giving His life on my behalf to pay a debt I owe to God of which I could never pay and then rising from the dead to give me a life I don’t deserve! What mercy! What grace! What a Saviour!
But you know what’s interesting, if you read the book of Acts Jesus is not described primarily using the word “Saviour”. You know what is the most common title?
Lord.
It’s been sobering to consider how my heart thinks of Jesus. Is He just my Saviour, or is He also my Lord? Frankly, I’m not sure that Jesus can be my Saviour if He isn’t my Lord. How can He possibly save if He isn’t Lord–King–over the cross?
Why do we like the term “Saviour” over “Lord”? I think the truth is that we like the idea of a God that we can contain, one that is just like us, one that our minds can comprehend. Saviours are heroes we admire but don’t really require anything of us. Lords, on the other hand, require everything.
If Jesus is Lord, then He has the right to tell us how we are to live our lives. If He is King, then what we say, think, and do should be done as His subjects. What He says goes. Even if it’s on sex, entertainment, politics, money, standards, values, and truth. Even if what He says is uncomfortable, awkward, or seemingly irrelevant. We belong to Jesus, He is our Master. We owe Him everything, and everything belongs to Him.
A.W. Tozer is famous for having written that “what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us”. Perhaps, like me, you find this sobering. The most important thing about you isn’t your name, your job, your connections, your bank account, your role… It’s how you think about God. And the reason is that how you view God will deeply affect your worship, and your worship is your life. If we’re not careful, we can make Jesus fit inside our pockets, ready to pull out just when we need Him. But this is idolatry, truthfully. We don’t need a god made in our own image; we need the God laid out for us in Scripture. We need a big view of Jesus Christ if we’re going to have a proper view of our salvation, mission, and value.
Perhaps this thought has sobered you too. I’m realizing I need to spend more time meditating on how Christ has revealed Himself to me in Scripture. Need some passages to meditate to enlarge your view? Check out Ezekiel 1, Daniel 10, Revelation 1, and Revelation 19:11-16. Want to dig into the theology of the Lordship of Christ? Check out this devotional by Ligoner ministries or this sermon by John MacArthur.
I’m grateful that Christ saves us even with poor or bad theology; He did say “whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37). …And because He is Lord, I can be certain that His saving power is strong, invincible, and eternal!
What you’ll find here is a collection of musings, thoughts, writings, and ramblings about things I’m reading, watching, and thinking about. It’s my goal to inspire, encourage, and instruct my fellow sisters in their walk with Jesus and their understanding of the Word.
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