We need to see the public life in the context of home life, the workplace, the classroom, and the neighborhood. We need to see it in its relationship with friends, family, work colleagues, neighbors, and classmates. We need to see it in its attitude toward possessions, obligations, and responsibilities, and the use of time and resources.

If we agree with the view that "If Jesus is not Lord of all, then He is not Lord at all," there are many areas of life that must come under His lordship. Is Jesus Lord of your thoughts? Is Jesus Lord of your emotions? Is Jesus Lord of your speech, of your relationships, of your possessions? Is Jesus Christ Lord of your whole life?

What Does It Involve to Say That Jesus Christ Is Lord?

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The question that many ask is, "What is involved in crowning Jesus Lord of one's life?" What must a person do in order for Jesus Christ to be Lord of his or her life? The easy answer is, "Yield your life to Him." This involves taking your hands off the controls of your life and allowing Him to be in control.

Such an important question requires more than a surface answer. For Jesus to become Lord of a person's life involves absolute and total surrender. I can think of no better example of total surrender than F. B. Meyer. He was a Baptist preacher and pastor of Christ Church in the heart of London in the nineteenth century. In the midst of a successful ministry, F. B. Meyer confessed that something was lacking in his life and ministry. J.H. Jowett recounts the following story: "Dr. Meyer has told us that his early Christian life was marred and his ministry paralyzed just because he had kept back one thing from the bunch of keys he had given to the Lord. Every key save one! The key of one room was kept for personal use, and the Lord shut out. And the effect of the incomplete consecration was found in lack of power, lack of assurance, lack of joy and peace. The joy of the Lord begins when we hand over the last key. We sit with Christ on His throne as soon as we have surrendered our crowns, and made Him sole and only ruler of our life and its possessions." 3

F. B. Meyer experienced the lordship of Jesus Christ when he handed over the last key. He had kept back the key to one room in his life and it brought great defeat. Remember, if He is not Lord of all — of every room — then He is not Lord at all. Have you yielded keys to every room in your life? Does He have the key to every room in your private life? Does He have the key to every room in your physical/ public life? Is there a room marked "private — keep out?" If so, you must be willing to surrender that key to the Lord.

There is a second element to yielding our lives to the Lord. In addition to absolute surrender, there must also be an acknowledgment of His ownership. Paul addressed the subject of ownership. He wrote, "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Cor. 6:19-20, NJKV).