Quickbites
- Jesus must be Lord of all my life or he cannot be Lord at all. However, that does not mean that I must be perfect to accept Jesus Christ as my Saviour. But as the Holy Spirit slowly penetrates our hearts, we realize our identity and security must be in the Lord.
- Making Jesus Lord does not mean we will always follow him perfectly. It does mean that to the best of our knowledge we will submit everything in our lives to Him.
- There are far too many professing Christians who want all the blessing of being a Christian - such as forgiveness, healing, hope and eternal life - but they do not want to pay the price of dying to their own will and letting Jesus rule over the
- If we seek to bargain with God, the gospel will lose it's effectiveness in our lives.
- People who try to live supremely both for themselves and for God, who try to go two different ways spiritually at the same time, will be frustrated people.
- Making Jesus Christ the Lord of all also means that we must put aside our selfish motives in decision making.
- We can make decisions to go to church and do other wonderful things for God. But if our ultimate motive is for self-gratification or to impress others, what we have is actually a well-refined state of hypocrisy. The result is merely good works, which will not save us.
- The motivation for making Jesus the Lord of our lives should not be to get ourselves into heaven, to impress God with our spirituality or to try to get God to love us. Jesus wants us to choose Him as Lord because we understand who He is, what He has done for us on the cross and how we can never live our lives without Him.
- The greatest motivation to victory in the Christian life is the assurance that Jesus is within us and His grace is greater than any temptation we will ever face.
Review Questions
1. What does it mean to you for Jesus to be Lord of your life?
It is the unconditional surrender of our whole beings unto Him, to be crafted, shaped, for His purposes.
2. How do you feel when you read, "Jesus does not want fifty-one per cent or even ninety-eight per cent control of our lives. He wants to be in control of all areas" ?
I feel that being in a relationship with Jesus is not only founded on love, grace and mercy, but also unwavering commitment.
3. Why is holding back part of our lives from Christ similar to Bill trying to leave a party with two different friends at the same time?
It would mean that we are aiming to get the best of both worlds: the benefits of living for self and living for Christ. Which would be a paradox as living for Christ means denying oneself.
4. Why is motive so important in a decision to make Christ the Lord of our lives?
It portrays the heart and character of a person, and also his sincerity in submitting himself to God.
5. Why does God want us to put our lives completely under his control?
As said in the Bible that God has plans to prosper us and not to harm us (Jeremiah 29), we can only be instruments fully utilized by God if we were to give Him our absolute. Also, God knows what is best of us and He wants to give us the very best.
6. As you consider aspects of your life that you have trouble submitting to Christ, what can motivate you and empower you to give everything to him?
The fact that I am saved by grace and the pursuit of complete obedience to Him is already sufficient motivation/empowerment.
7. What is your response to the story at the end of the chapter about the impossible debt?
Christians have to accept and acknowledge that the grace and freedom from Christ is given to us, and not earned through merit. Only then can we proclaim that we have been saved by the blood of the Lamb.
8. What light does it shed for you on the issue of Christ's lordship?
God demands that we either give Him ourselves as living sacrifices, or He'd rather none at all. There is absolutely no room for negotiation.
9. How can we submit every aspect of our lives to Christ - friends, family, job, finances, plans, hobbies, recreation, lifestyle and so on?
Submitting your whole being unto Christ will never be accomplished in a day. The full comprehension of the notion of our surrender to God will only be understood when one reaches spiritual maturity, that is to see things from God's perspective. A good first step, however, is prayer. Prayer is the sustenance that will last the distance. It is the instrument in which focus is re-defined as daily life takes its toll. It is the key to finishing the good race. It is through prayer that we achieve and grow in faith.
~4Christ who lives in me~
†darrenshakers
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