Do you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior? No. Let me tell you something, He doesn't need your acceptance, He already IS Lord, and our feelings and thoughts on the subject are irrelevant to this fact.
The real question is, do you submit to Him in obedience, for He says that if you loved Him, you would obey His commands.
A lot of difference a word makes, huh?
Preachers of the modern Gospel will tell us to commit our lives to Christ, and that sounds all good on the surface, but it's the same issue.
The word "commit" leaves us in control. We can commit to car payments, to tithing, to whatever, we make a commitment, and we are still in control. But this edges out a better word when we're speaking of our relationship with the Creator of the universe- surrender.
If a man points a gun at you, and says put up your hands, you don't tell him what you're going to commit to. You say, 'what do you want me to do?' You've surrendered.
So, do we "commit" to follow Christ? Or do we surrender our lives to Him as Lord and Savior?
Three times in a single chapter of John, Jesus tells us that if we love Him, we will obey Him.
John 14:15
If you love me, you will obey what I command.
John 14:21
Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.
John 14:23
Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."
It's interesting how subtle changes in language can make such a difference in meaning when you really dig into it.
2 comments:
Al, well said! WOW! If others read this it may help them truly understand what it means to follow Jesus.
Thanks Tom! I hope many others read it and it has that affect on them. Feel free to take it to your site as well.
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