Jesus gives a good definition of “lordship” in Luke 6:46.

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord’ and don’t do what I tell you?”

Luke 6:46

To make Jesus your lord is to do what He says. Obedience has seemingly fallen out of favor in modern American Christianity, but this is to our detriment — because the Christian faith has always been predicated on this idea that the lordship of Jesus entails an obedience that leads to life. I mean, Jesus Himself says that His yoke is easy, His burden is light — and yet, there is still yoke and burden as we follow Him. To confess His lordship is to submit oneself over to His authority — good authority, it might be noted, but authority nonetheless.

We come to recognize Jesus as Savior, yes. But we also recognize Him as Lord, as the One who is in charge.

This is a word I believe we need to hear.

Lords don’t do focus groups.

Lords don’t put things to a vote.

Lords wield complete and total authority.

That’s what it means to make Jesus my Lord. He came to rescue but He also came to rule.

If I don’t submit myself to His authority in every area of my life, then I haven’t made Jesus my Lord.

This means that I submit myself to His teachings about the importance of loving God and loving others. I don’t get to pick and choose. I don’t get to say that I love God while also harboring hatred for any of my neighbors. That’s not the way it works. If Jesus is my Lord, then He is Lord across the board.

If Jesus is my Lord, then He is the authoritative voice in ALL matters of ethics and morality. He calls the shots on my anger, on giving to those in need, on my relationship to my wealth and my possessions. He calls the shots on lust and sexuality, on marriage and divorce, on seeking revenge — I’m just going down the line looking at all the things He mentions in the Sermon on the Mount. If I accept some of His teachings but ignore other things He says — the things I don’t want to hear — then He’s not really the lord of my life. When I do that, I’m still playing Satan’s game because I’m trying to be the lord of my life in this one area. And that’s not the way it works.

Either Jesus is the Lord of all of my life or He’s the lord of none of my life. There is no in between. Lords don’t do focus groups and lords don’t put it to a vote. Lords wield supreme authority. And that’s what it means to make Jesus the lord of my life.

How do you do that? To make Jesus your Lord is to join your story to His story.

It requires that we humble ourselves, that we stop making ourselves the lord of our lives.

We acknowledge the power of His death, that He died for our sins.

And we look forward in hope to the day when it all ends in glory, when all His promises to us are fulfilled.

Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.