Verse of the day: Luke 6:46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do
the things which I say?
Can I say right from the start that Jesus is NOT just fire
insurance? In other words, Jesus is not just a way of escape from Hell. Yes, He
gave His life for us, and has saved those of us who truly put our faith in Him
from eternal condemnation; but our relationship with Jesus is more than just escaping
Hell and the Lake of Fire. A relationship with Jesus means that He is more than
just Savior; He must also be Lord of our lives. There are too many today who
get comfortable in having Jesus as their Savior, but even though they claim He
is Lord, their lives say something different. We say that we love Him, but He
told us that if we love Him we will obey His commands (Jn 14:15). If we claim
that He is Lord, and we are His followers, then we must be willing to take up
our cross daily and deny self (Lk 9:23). So what does a Christian who truly
acknowledges and has Jesus as Savior and Lord of their life look like? First,
Jesus tells us in this chapter of Luke that we will be known by the fruit of
our lives (v. 43-45). A true follower of Jesus, who lives with Him as Lord,
will be one who obediently allows the Holy Spirit to not only produce fruit
within, but will show that fruit without (Eph 5:8-9; 9:22-23). A Christian who
claims to know Jesus as Lord, but refuses to submit to His commands or allow
the Spirit to grow fruit in his/her life must stop and reevaluate their relationship
with Jesus. Jesus goes on to tell us that a person who truly sees Him as Lord
will hear His sayings and do them, equating them to someone who builds their
house on a firm foundation, a rock (Jesus is our Rock). To the person who hears
His sayings and does nothing, he equates to the person who builds their house
on sand, a foundation that is shaky and unstable. The difference between those
two types of believers is that when the storms of life come, regardless of what
type of storm, that believer who has built his/her life on the truths and
principles of God’s Word will stand. Though they may be tossed to and fro, they
will withstand the storm; much like a tree that is well rooted and sways in the
storm, even though it may lose a leaf or two, it remains standing. The believer
who only sees Him as Savior and fails to build their life on God’s Word will
waver and fall apart when the storms of life hit them. Like a house that has a
poor foundation or a tree that is not well-rooted, he/she will be uprooted and
fall hard. This is the person who is crushed under the pressures of life, and
although they claim to have a Living Hope, they respond as one who is hopeless.
The truth of the matter is that even if we are obedient to God’s Word the storm
that results may very well be the persecution that comes from living a holy and
righteous life in Christ. However, even in that, the well-rooted believer knows
and is encouraged by the fact that if we endure suffering for the sake of our
Savior and Lord, there is great reward that awaits us (v. 22-23). The bottom
line is that the Christian who truly sees Jesus as both Savior and Lord will be
the born again believer that will experience and demonstrate joy and the peace
that passes all understanding, regardless of what the Lord allows into our
lives (Phil 4:6-7). Not only will we stand, but we will grow and the roots of
our faith will anchor us deeper and deeper so that in Christ we will be able to
stand in whatever storm attempts to bruise and batter us. Remember, we follow
the One who calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee simply by saying, “Peace be
still” (Mk 4:39). Let Him be the One who also calms the storms in our live by
simply saying, “Peace be still.”
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