Jesus Is Lord

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 10:9

I want to linger for one more day on Romans 10:9 because it speaks incisively to one of the major challenges we face as Christians today, especially as we seek to live out our faith in daily life. In our culture, confessing Jesus as Lord can get us in a bit of trouble. It’s politically incorrect to be so “arrogant” and “narrow-minded” as to suggest that Jesus is the Lord of heaven and earth. We might get away with acknowledging Jesus as our personal Lord, as long as he didn’t require us to break our cultural norms. But to suggest that Jesus is the Lord of all is unacceptable.

Yet this is nothing new. In fact, the Roman Christians (to whom Paul was writing the letter we’ve been studying) literally put their lives on the line when confessing Jesus to be Lord. By the second half of the first century A.D., the Roman emperors claimed the title of Lord for themselves. Thus to say “Jesus is Lord” was to deny the claim “Caesar is Lord.” For this, Christians could be put to death, and many were in the first centuries of the Christian era.

The most powerful way for us to testify to the Lordship of Jesus is by living each day according to his will and for his glory. When we are people of truth, compassion, forgiveness, humility, and love, those around us will be drawn to the Lord who makes such living possible. Only when we live with Jesus as our Lord will our world be ready to hear our confession of Jesus as Lord.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: Have you ever found it awkward to speak of Jesus as Lord? When? In what ways does your daily life demonstrate the Lordship of Jesus?

PRAYER: Gracious, living, reigning Lord, in many ways, this world is not ready to accept your Lordship, even though it so desperately needs it. You have called me to be one voice among many bearing witness that you are Lord. Yet in a world so resistant to your Lordship, my testimony will fall on deaf ears unless my life illustrates the blessings of confessing you as Lord. So help me, I pray, to live each day under your Lordship. May my life be a reflection of your grace, mercy, truth, and love.

As I pray for myself, I also pray for your church. So often we are seen in our hypocrisy, judgmentalism, and self-absorption. No wonder the world is resistant to your Lordship! Help your church, dear Lord, to live faithfully under your sovereignty. May our way of being in the world draw people to you and proclaim in deed as well as word: “Jesus is Lord.” Amen.