Is Jesus Your Lord?
- Kingdom Kulture
- Oct 29
- 9 min read
After the death of Billy Graham several years ago, I was left asking myself this question. I remember looking at his life and dedication to God and questioning what my faith actually meant to me. I knew that Jesus died on the Cross for our sins, but what actual change in my life had I experienced? I was convicted seeing how much Billy Graham loved God and devoted himself to Him and I knew that I had not truly given my entire life to God but rather simply set aside an hour for a sermon on Sundays.
"What does it mean to call Jesus my Lord? Or perhaps, Jesus is my Lord simply because I say He is? Or is Jesus my Lord because my Billy Graham said He is?"
Many of us who profess that we are Christians wouldn't even bother to ponder over this question: Who is our Lord? We boldly and confidently shout, "Jesus is Lord!" Our mouths can never be questioned, but our hearts usually tell a different story.
To truly understand if Jesus was my Lord, I had to first examine the lives of those who the Bible tells us truly had Jesus as their Lord.
18 As He was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He noticed two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, throwing a dragnet into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And He said to them, Come [a]after Me [as disciples—letting Me be your Guide], follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men! 20 At once they left their nets and [b]became His disciples [sided with His party and followed Him]. 21 And going on further from there He noticed two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets and putting them right; and He called them. 22 At once they left the boat and their father and [c]joined Jesus as disciples [sided with His party and followed Him]. Matthew 4:18-22 AMPC
We see that for those who first claimed that Jesus was Lord in the Bible it meant dropping everything and potentially everyone who would distract or deter them from following in His footsteps. Since we do not have the privilege and honor of seeing Jesus in the flesh, we must ask ourselves, what does this look like today? Are we willing to drop our careers or jobs at a moment's notice at the sign of them dragging us in the opposite direction of Jesus and what He stood for? Have we compromised our belief in the principles of Jesus in order to fill our calendars with events? Have we filled our schedules with conference after conference leaving us no time for Him to confer with us personally and privately? Are we willing to cut ties with anyone who is distracting or detouring us in our pursuit of Jesus and the adaptation to His way of life?
4 You [are like] unfaithful wives [having illicit love affairs with the world and breaking your marriage vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world’s friend is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God. James 4:4 AMPC
In the last couple of years, I've spoken with a woman who claimed boldly that Jesus was her personal Lord and Savior but also participated in gender reassignment surgeries. Could Jesus truly be our Lord if we are complacent in the mutilation of the precious bodies His Father Created? In the New Testament, we see that our bodies have become temples for God's Holy Spirit to dwell inside of. How would He feel about these potential temples being castrated?
18 Shun immorality and all sexual looseness [flee from impurity in thought, word, or deed]. Any other sin which a man commits is one outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own, 20 You were bought with a price [purchased with a [a]preciousness and paid for, [b]made His own]. So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 AMPC
A few weeks ago, I spoke with someone who also claimed that Jesus was Lord but was willing to stay with a career that pushed for LGBT to infiltrate the hearts and minds of children. If we know that God destroyed an entire city because of sin, can we imagine His Son partnering with sin to get a few bucks? Or would He rely on His Father to provide before asking for tips from Satan? In retrospect of the principles Jesus stood on, would that same Savior ask us to partner with evil in order for us to put food on our tables and clothes on our backs? (MATT 6:33) Could Jesus truly be our Lord if we are willing to overlook some of the very things He died to help us be cleansed of?
There are also pastors all over who claim Jesus is Lord and then proceed not to preach that homosexuality is a sin. The first disciples not only claimed that Jesus was Lord with their mouths but they also showed it with their lives and, ultimately, with their deaths.
14-18 Don’t become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That’s not partnership; that’s war. Is light best friends with dark? Does Christ go strolling with the Devil? Do trust and mistrust hold hands? Who would think of setting up pagan idols in God’s holy Temple? But that is exactly what we are, each of us a temple in whom God lives. God himself put it this way:“I’ll live in them, move into them; I’ll be their God and they’ll be my people. So leave the corruption and compromise; leave it for good,” says God.“Don’t link up with those who will pollute you. I want you all for myself.I’ll be a Father to you; you’ll be sons and daughters to me.” The Word of the Master, God. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 MSG
Oftentimes I've claimed that Jesus was my Lord but aligned my life with pursuits of the things of this world that would only bring my family and I closer to worldly comfort and not Christ. We say that Jesus is Lord but can be found sprinting like an olympic athlete towards anything that will bring us closer to comfort and not closer to Christ. We must look at the life and journey of Paul, a faithful servant of God who also claimed Jesus was his Lord even when it meant prison and torture awaited Him.
23 Are they [ministering] servants of Christ (the Messiah)? I am talking like one beside himself, [but] I am more, with far more extensive and abundant labors, with far more imprisonments, [beaten] with countless stripes, and frequently [at the point of] death. 24 Five times I received from [the hands of] the Jews forty [lashes all] but one; 25 Three times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned. Three times I have been aboard a ship wrecked at sea; a [whole] night and a day I have spent [adrift] on the deep; 26 Many times on journeys, [exposed to] perils from rivers, perils from bandits, perils from [my own] nation, perils from the Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the desert places, perils in the sea, perils from those posing as believers [but destitute of Christian knowledge and piety]; 27 In toil and hardship, watching often [through sleepless nights], in hunger and thirst, frequently driven to fasting by want, in cold and exposure and lack of clothing. 28 And besides those things that are without, there is the daily [inescapable pressure] of my care and anxiety for all the churches! 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 AMPC
24 But woe to (alas for) you who are rich ([a]abounding in material resources), for you already are receiving your consolation (the solace and sense of strengthening and cheer that come from prosperity) and have taken and enjoyed your comfort in full [having nothing left to be awarded you]. 25 Woe to (alas for) you who are full now (completely filled, luxuriously gorged and satiated), for you shall hunger and suffer want! Woe to (alas for) you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep and wail! 26 Woe to (alas for) you when everyone speaks fairly and handsomely of you and praises you, for even so their forefathers did to the false prophets. Luke 6:24-26 AMPC
A couple years ago, I heard a very famous pastor tell his congregation that he had not been preaching the kingdom message of Jesus. It doesn't take a special prophecy or divine wisdom to comprehend that this is true amongst many pastors today; just a simple scroll through the gospels. We have focused our attention on building our congregations instead of building His Church which has led to people pleasing and not people reaching.
15 “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You go halfway around the world to make a convert, but once you get him you make him into a replica of yourselves, double-damned. Matthew 23:15 AMPC
The servants of God in the Bible who confessed Jesus was their Lord preached the words of Jesus without caring about the backlash or hatred that they would receive. They boldly professed Jesus even if their life was on the line. This is what it looks like as a preacher who has made Jesus his Lord.
17 But in order that it may not spread further among the people and the nation, let us warn and forbid them with a stern threat to speak any more to anyone in this name [or about this Person]. 18 [So] they summoned them and imperatively instructed them not to converse in any way or teach at all in or about the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied to them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you and obey you rather than God, you must decide (judge). 20 But we [ourselves] cannot help telling what we have seen and heard. 21 Then when [the rulers and council members] had further threatened them, they let them go, not seeing how they could secure a conviction against them because of the people; for everybody was praising and glorifying God for what had occurred. Acts 4:17-21 AMPC
54 Now upon hearing these things, they [the Jews] were cut to the heart and infuriated, and they ground their teeth against [Stephen]. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit and controlled by Him, gazed into heaven and saw the glory (the splendor and majesty) of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand; 56 And he said, Look! I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at God’s right hand! 57 But they raised a great shout and put their hands over their ears and rushed together upon him. 58 Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him, and the witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And while they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, Lord Jesus, receive and accept and welcome my spirit! 60 And falling on his knees, he cried out loudly, Lord, fix not this sin upon them [lay it not to their charge]! And when he had said this, he fell asleep [a][in death]. Acts 7:54-60 AMPC
Saying Jesus is Lord is enough to not be considered demonic in a country where lukewarm Christianity is popular, but according to Jesus it is not enough to get you a spot in heaven. We must make Him Lord in our hearts and with our actions. Then we will find that our words will no longer need to validate what our lives have clearly spoken.
46 Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not [practice] what I tell you? 47 For everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words [in order to heed their teaching] and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug and went down deep and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood arose, the torrent broke against that house and could not shake or move it, because it had been securely built or founded on a rock. 49 But he who merely hears and does not practice doing My words is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation, against which the torrent burst, and immediately it collapsed and fell, and the breaking and ruin of that house was great. Luke 6:46-49 AMPC
The truth is, Jesus is Lord whether we acknowledge Him now or not. However, we must examine ourselves and our lives to see whether Jesus is our Lord or if we are trying to make Him a friend with benefits.
Question of the Day: Would the great men and women of the faith consider Jesus to also be your Lord and Savior?
