Is Christ the Lord and Light of Our Lives?

It makes sense that when I ask Jesus Christ to be the Lord of my life, then I must be willing to submit to His Lordship. But what does Lordship mean?

By the dictionary definition, Lordship means have all authority over someone or some area of land.  The type of Lordship we give Christ in our life, when we submit our will to Him, is called seigniory. That is, the lord who reigns with seigniory is entitled to our respect, and is one whom is consulted on all manner of spiritual and behavioral actions.

So, what does it mean to make Christ the Lord of our life? It means that we are committing to make him Sovereign in our life. It means that He alone is our authority, and anything contradictory to His will in our life is insubordination on our part. By definition, making Christ the Lord of our life entitles Him to lead our spiritual and physical behavior, even to the point of being granted precedence in our thought life.

It is through His Lordship that the Holy Spirit can work in us to transform our lives. The world tells us that many things are right. We have an “I’m Okay, You’re Okay” attitude. Most of us walk around in a sea of gray. That might seem fine, until you realize that it’s harder to see a shark against the gray, until he is ripping a limb from your body. A transformed life is not going to blend into the gray of the world, or the darkness of evident sin. The transformed-life, will be a light in the world.

Matthew chapter 5 tells us that we are the light of the world, a city on a hill cannot be hidden. I think sometimes we get confused about what that means. God does not make us a light to draw attention to our faithfulness, our righteousness, or our ability to follow the Word of God better than those who have not made a commitment to follow Christ.

Last night I drove home in a snowstorm. We didn’t end up with a lot of measurable snow, but while the storm raged and the winds blew, I could hardly see. I knew I was close to my driveway, but I could not tell where the driveway was, or where the ditch on either side began. I had to stop and look for the reflectors on our mailbox.  As the beam from my headlights shined into that reflective material, I knew where I needed to turn to be safely home.

It was such a reminder of what its like when Christians truly make Christ the Lord of our life. Our behavior and even our thought life will reflect Christ. He will shine in us. The light we are, is only His light reflected. Not to be a show, but to be a guide, bringing others safely home.