Kyrios

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete” (Luke 6:46-49).

Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?

The Greek word for Lord is kyrios. It means “Lord,” “Master,” “Owner,” “A person with absolute ownership rights.”

So, if you know Jesus as Lord, as one who is the Lord and Master, one who is Owner, one who has absolute ownership rights to us, why do we call him Lord and not do what he says?

If you didn’t know the full understanding of the word Lord, now you do. If you call Jesus Lord and do not do what he says, it’s ludicrous.

And, what’s crazy is that if we were to do what the Lord commands, it works out not only to further God’s kingdom, but we end up doing what’s best for us. So, why aren’t we obeying?

I know. Even as I write this, I too struggle to obey all the time. And it puzzles me too.

You see, fully submitting our lives, our trust, our hopes, our dreams to the Lord is not radical Christianity. It’s the most basic Christianity there is.

The very reason that we would see a submitted life to God’s word as a radical discipleship demonstrates how far from basic Christianity we have strayed.

So, will you join me in submitting to Christ and his Lordship? Will you join me in obeying God’s word?

God knows we won’t be perfect. But he does desire and delights in our best effort to obey him. Let’s give it our best!