By Roger D. Willmore
When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, it involves recognition of His lordship, for the Savior who saved us when we received Him by faith is the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot and do not receive Him as Savior only. We receive Him as Lord and Savior. However, for some the yielding to Jesus as Lord is subsequent to their conversion. It may be a few months later, or for some, many years later. This was my own experience. I did not willfully reject the lordship of Christ; I simply did not know about His lordship. He was presented to me as Savior at the time of my conversion. I was introduced to Him as Lord several years later. However, this is not intended to be the biblical pattern.
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We must not fail to communicate the "whole council of God." He is both Lord and Savior.
What Does It Mean to Say That Jesus Christ is Lord?
For Jesus to be Lord of your life means that He is the ruler, the boss, the master of your whole life. He cannot be Lord of a part — He must be given control of the entire life — the whole life.
When thinking about the whole life of a person, we must think of various parts that go to make up a person. Paul wrote, "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess. 5:23, NJKV). Paul makes it plain that the whole person is made up of spirit, soul, and body. A person has an inner, private, unseen-to-the-natural-eye aspect of life. A person has an outer, visible, and public life that is seen and heard by those with whom he comes in contact day by day. Jesus desires to be Lord of the seen and the unseen, the visible and the invisible, the private aspects of our lives and the public aspects of our lives. He wants to be Lord of our spiritual life and of our physical life.
The inner sanctuary, the spirit and soul, contains the mind, the emotion, and the will. It is in our spirit and soul that we think, feel, choose, decide, dream, and plan. Battles are fought and won or lost on the battleground of our private life. Is Jesus Lord over this area of your life?
The writer of Proverbs said. "For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7, NKJV). In Proverbs 4:23, he wrote, "Keep your hearts with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life" (NKJV).
Don't underestimate the importance of our private life. Although more attention is often given to the physical body, our true spiritual health is determined by the spirit and soul — not the body.
The outward life expresses the inner life. The outward life involves our eyes, our ears, our lips, our hands, our feet, our entire body. Our public life is expressed by what we see, what we say, what we hear, where we go, and what we do. It is so important that Jesus be Lord over our public life.