Thursday, January 11, 2007
Problem of evil from a different perspective
This is one of the best things I have read lately! Get past the grammar, the content is beautiful!
After Christmas reflection . . .(lame title, but the best I could do)
For the last month I have been struggling with a thought that I have not been able to shake. As we have celebrated Christmas during the month of December I have not been able to ignore the word savior. It seems that during Christmas we like to celebrate the birth of our savior. We read the passage in Luke that tells us “today in the town of David a savior has been born to you”. The music department even did a music program called Saviour.
My struggle is that the passage from Luke continues to say that this savior that has been born is “Christ the Lord”. What strikes me is how easy and comfortable it is for me to call Jesus savior, but how difficult and uncomfortable it is to call him Lord. The word Lord communicates a position of power and authority. If I call Jesus Lord, then I am saying that Jesus has authority over my life. That I will be obedient to his direction and leading. We all want Jesus to be our savior, but do we want him to be Lord?
Romans 10:9 states, “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” This is a passage that has always been important to me in discussing my salvation with another person and it is a verse that many of us have memorized. However, I think we tend to stress the second half of this verse. If you believe Jesus was raised from the dead, you will be saved. However, this passage makes it clear that we must also confess Jesus as Lord (in the world and in our lives). This means that we are making a confession that Jesus has authority over our lives. And, if this is our confession it must also be our ethos.
I was discussing this thought with the other pastors and Dub Ambrose gave this analogy: Imagine that you are lost in dark forest and can’t find your way out. You are trapped. Now imagine someone comes along and says, “I am here to save you”. This is great news!! However, the next words out of the man’s mouth are “follow me”. The point is obvious! If you are to be saved you must also trust this other person to lead you and grant them the authority to do so.
So many of us say that we desire salvation (and I am not talking about salvation after we die, I am talking about salvation today), but we are unwilling to follow the one who offers the better way. We want to escape the darkness of our own lives, but we are unwilling to follow the one who will lead us to light.
Do I trust Jesus as my savior and Lord? This is the question that I have been asking myself!
My struggle is that the passage from Luke continues to say that this savior that has been born is “Christ the Lord”. What strikes me is how easy and comfortable it is for me to call Jesus savior, but how difficult and uncomfortable it is to call him Lord. The word Lord communicates a position of power and authority. If I call Jesus Lord, then I am saying that Jesus has authority over my life. That I will be obedient to his direction and leading. We all want Jesus to be our savior, but do we want him to be Lord?
Romans 10:9 states, “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” This is a passage that has always been important to me in discussing my salvation with another person and it is a verse that many of us have memorized. However, I think we tend to stress the second half of this verse. If you believe Jesus was raised from the dead, you will be saved. However, this passage makes it clear that we must also confess Jesus as Lord (in the world and in our lives). This means that we are making a confession that Jesus has authority over our lives. And, if this is our confession it must also be our ethos.
I was discussing this thought with the other pastors and Dub Ambrose gave this analogy: Imagine that you are lost in dark forest and can’t find your way out. You are trapped. Now imagine someone comes along and says, “I am here to save you”. This is great news!! However, the next words out of the man’s mouth are “follow me”. The point is obvious! If you are to be saved you must also trust this other person to lead you and grant them the authority to do so.
So many of us say that we desire salvation (and I am not talking about salvation after we die, I am talking about salvation today), but we are unwilling to follow the one who offers the better way. We want to escape the darkness of our own lives, but we are unwilling to follow the one who will lead us to light.
Do I trust Jesus as my savior and Lord? This is the question that I have been asking myself!