What Does the Lordship of Christ Look Like?

Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3 NKJV).

This is an interesting statement in light of how many Americans claim to be Christians and yet, it is pretty obvious that this is not the case.  So, how do we rectify the discrepancy between this verse – which clearly says that you cannot say that Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit – and all those people who claim to be Christians, but live like Hell?

The gap between their proclamation and the reality of their life choices can be immediately closed when we take into consideration the age old problem of the multi-faceted understanding of what something means.  For instance, when we say we love our mother, we love ice cream, or we love football, we certainly don’t mean love in the same way or capacity.  When people say that they are a Christian, many of them believe that what makes them a Christian is because they go to a Christian church, they are not Buddhists or Muslims, and they totally look at Jesus Christ as the person they pay homage to when they are at church, or in their own private world. 

It does not take too deep of a study into Scripture to know that sitting in a church week after week is not what makes someone a Christian any more than sitting in a garage makes them a car.  In fact, their misunderstanding of what it means to have Jesus as Lord is clearly seen when Jesus tells them:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21-23 NKJV).

It is makes perfect sense, then, that if this is the prerequisite to being on the same page with Jesus about what constitutes the meaning of “Lord,” to Him, it would require the indwelling of the Spirit of God to have the power to not just do the will of the Father, but to actually know the will of the Father.

Today, I am thankful for the indwelling Spirit of God, because He is my guarantee of being able to live a life for the glory of God.  I just need to pay close attention to what He says and do it.