Why should Jesus be your Lord? When I ask my students this question, I suggest a variety of answers:
- Because he is Lord whether I acknowledge it or not.
- Because the alternative is slavery to sin.
- Because he provides a firm foundation on which to base my life.
- Because he is a good Lord.
This morning a student latched on to that last suggestion. She remarked that Jesus was her Lord because he has so much power over us, but there is never abuse. I have been marveling over this bit of wisdom. Today’s paper contains stories about a coach who abused his players, a politician on the take, a woman who spent her childhood doing slave labor in a sweatshop, and prison deputies who beat a prisoner to death.
John Dalberg-Acton famously wrote, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority, still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority.”
Jesus has total control over my life, over your life, and over the universe. No human would use such power well. Jesus has the power to do whatever he wants with me and with you, but instead of abusing, he has served. Philippians 2:6-8 describes Jesus’ attitude toward power:
“Though he was in the form of God, [he] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (ESV)
Even though Jesus’ lordship is not up for a vote, I want it to be known that I choose it.
You have me itching right now ! Please Lord, let me find the right solution……….