“…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Rom. 10:9
Has God ever asked you to do something uncomfortable and you’ve chosen to do it anyway? For years, I did everything but. I lived and made decisions based on what I wanted, how I felt, and what I thought. I wish I could say this all transpired before I came to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord. But the truth is I didn’t understand there is a difference between believing in Jesus Christ intellectually as Lord and believing in, loving Him, honoring Him, revering Him, praising and worshiping Him, spending time with Him, learning to abide in Him, and He in me, hearing Him, and obeying Him as Lord. I didn’t realize a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ lives and breathes a life of devotedness to Christ as Lord. For a long while I professed to believe in Christ but lived for myself and said YES to Christ only when it pleased me. Have you truly given your life – and YES – to Christ? Are you battling to hold onto your self – or living for and in submission to Him? What right now in your life has God asked of you that you have refused to relinquish to Him because you have chosen to say yes to yourself instead? Are you ready to surrender to the Lord? All?
A telltale sign of being a genuine Christ follower, or one who has been born again and promised eternal life and is truly headed for heaven, is we become willing to turn from our old life to God and to do the uncomfortable – of what runs contrary to our fleshly me-centered ways – for Christ’s sake. Borne of our love for Him and our true understanding and acceptance Jesus is LORD. We become willing to base our decisions not on what we want, feel, like, and think, but on Christ being our Lord. It is not our job to question the Lord, debate with Him, argue with Him, determine whether we feel like obeying Him, or do anything other than humble ourselves before Him when He asks something of us and say YES, master, YES, Lord, YES, Savior. YES, redeemer, YES, King, YES Father, YES healer, YES, deliverer, YES light of my life, YES our God!
Will you merely confess Christ is Lord with words? This is insufficient for those who desire to spend forever with Him. Or will you believe in your heart He really is Lord, live accordingly, and say YES when He asks something of you? Will you say yes to your flesh and no to Christ, or no to your flesh and YES to Christ? When the Lord asks of you something uncomfortable, displeasing to you, new, different, unfamiliar, involves risk, change, letting go, death to self, means you have to deny yourself what you want, turn away from something or someone you desire, etc., will you say YES to God? Look at your everyday life. Can you honestly say you worship Christ as your LORD? Will you say YES to Christ?