Lord, Lord

There once were two men who survived a plane crash over the ocean.  Far from land, their only hope of survival was to be rescued by a passing ship.  Thankfully, they had both been told by the pilot that such a ship was nearby.  So, with no other viable options, both men set out from the wreckage in hopes of reaching the ship. 

     The first man, recognizing that time was not on his side, quickly fastened a makeshift raft out of a piece of wreckage. Grabbing some supplies, he immediately began rowing in the direction that the pilot had indicated.  The trek was grueling and tiresome, but the man knew that the only way he would be rescued would be to follow the pilot’s directions toward the other ship. 

     The second man likewise made a makeshift raft.  But when the plane went down he had been in the middle of watching a fascinating movie.  So, his first priority after making his raft was to find his laptop (which had somehow stayed dry), and the beverage cart from the plane.  He then wrestled one of the first-class seats onto his rickety raft, and rewarded himself for all his hard work with a Sprite, some peanuts, and the remainder of his movie.  Every now and then, he would remember about the passing ship and would row haphazardly in its direction. 

     Needless to say, as the passing ship drew nearest to the wrecked plane, only one survivor was pulled from the water.  The other one was nowhere to be seen. 

     Unless you’re reading this in the middle of the ocean balancing on a rickety homemade raft, we might see this fictitious story as absurd.  After all, it seems rather silly for anyone to miss being rescued because they were more concerned about their own temporary pleasure and comfort than they were about their own survival. 

     And yet, there are many good people whose lives mirror the efforts of the second man. They know about salvation, and they even desire to be rescued, but they are not willing to make such survival a priority.  They are unwilling to set aside the comforts of their busy lives in order to gain salvation.

     Throughout the Bible, Jesus is described as being both “Savior” and “Lord” to His followers.  The concept of “savior” is simple enough – Jesus is someone who rescues us from something really, really bad.  Even casual church-goers recognize the value of such salvation.  And so, many throngs of people claim to believe in Jesus so that they can escape the really, really bad possibility of hell. 

     The problem is that most of these casual church-goers don’t really understand the second title of “Lord.”  They see it as just another title for Jesus.  It’s like His first name.  The term, however, implies much, much more.  Someone who is our “Lord” is our absolute master and ruler; someone who has total authority and control over us.  Anyone who truly wants to follow Jesus must acknowledge that He is more than just a Savior, He is the absolute Lord of their lives. 

     This idea, however, doesn’t sit well in our “me-centered” culture.  We like to picture ourselves as independent, self-made bootstrap-picker-uppers.  It goes against our “Made-in-America” persona to give up control of our lives – especially if that involves laying aside our Sprite and peanuts (or our movies!). 

     As a result, our churches are full of well-intentioned people who believe God enough about heaven and hell to desire the former and escape the latter.  They realize that life is fragile and fleeting, and so they desire assurance of salvation.  So they strive to add the “Savior” part of Jesus to their American-Dream-driven lives. They might even claim that Jesus is their Lord, but in reality, all control remains with them. 

      Jesus knew this type of half-hearted follower well.  In Matthew 7:21, he confronted them with these sobering words: “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”  In these words Jesus reveals the heart of the issue: Obedience. 

      Unlike the man in the story, it impossible for us to work (or row) hard enough to earn salvation.  It is only by God’s grace that we can be saved (Ephesians 2:8).  But, in order to know Jesus as Savior, we must also accept Him as Lord of our lives.  This requires obedience.  This requires submission.  And this requires relinquishing control of our comforts, our pleasure, and even our dreams.

      But, even though this submission might be contrary to our nature and seem totally undesirable in light of our culture, those who know Jesus as Lord soon realize that He is an infinitely better master of our lives than we are.  In Him we find a love, joy, fulfillment, purpose, peace, and hope that we could never discover on our own.  In other words, our best life, both presently and eternally, occurs when we truly know Jesus as both Savior and Lord. 

Soli Deo Gloria

Tim Cotten