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“Why call Me Lord when you don’t mean it?”
Honestly, what keeps you chained in your recovery journey and Christ-centered life from fully receiving the miracle of the best of the new life experience that God wants and has for you? I was honest about myself earlier in this article. Now it is time for you to be honest with yourself. For me, the matter is full surrender to God’s calling on my life for every hour of every day. If that sounds like a bit much for you, it’s a bit much for me too. But truth is truth.
I haven’t even brought up yet the issue of sin… you know… declaring to God that you love Him but then at times living as though He doesn’t exist; also true of me. Maybe it’s entertaining lusts of the eyes and imagination. Maybe it’s coveting material prosperity. Maybe it’s harboring resentment and jealousy. Maybe it’s living in shame, or loneliness, or living in fear. Maybe it’s being overrun by anxiety and stress. Maybe it’s being selfish with your money. Maybe it’s being selfish with your time; even if you’re always too busy. Maybe it’s holding on to your obsessions and addictions. You likely know even though it might always be clear to you, and certainly God knows.
“So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? Luke 6:46
The word ‘lord’ is a word of authority. The name Lord for Christ is a name of trusted authority. I call Jesus Lord all the time. So why don’t I believe and respect, even revere, His lordship all of the time? How is it that I can call Him Lord and then live as though I do not trust in, respect, and certainly revere, His authority, ability, desire, and willingness to bless me to the full with abundant life as promised in John 10:10? Why do I not fully believe in the promise of Ephesians 3:20 that God can and will do infinitely more in my life that I even dare to ask or imagine?
How about you?
5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 When you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. James 1:5-8, 22-25 (NLT)
If you appear to live like you have measured faith it is because you are divided between what you want and aspire to in the flesh and what you want and aspire to in relationship with Christ. In relationship with Jesus, you are transformed into new life by the renewing of your mind. Paul writes that you in fact live this transformed life having the mind of Christ having received God’s best.
We have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us… We understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:12, 16b (NLT)
I could go on with promise after promise. The issue is, if you are limited to a measure of faith it is because you are divided and unstable in who and what you are in relationship with God. You are divided between the new you in Christ that you see when you look into the mirror and the old you that you remember and cling to when you walk away from it; me too.
What a life it would be
Why it that we struggle so to believe all of it? As long as we hold on to the former life in the flesh by choice, we choose to forfeit so much of God’s best; not only for us, but for our families, loved ones, friends, and so on. That’s right. When we surrender all into the full blessing of abundant life, those we touch in some way are also touched by the blessing. When we choose limited blessing because of divided loyalty limiting faith – confidence – in what we say we believe in, we can limit the blessing to those under our influence.
I’ll put this back onto I-statements. I need to do what the Word of God says and what I know spiritually and intellectually to be true and reasonably sensible for my life; because it is good and right and it is God’s best. Even something as small as a mustard seed that fully believes can move a mountain and experience the full blessing of abundant life. So why measured faith? From revelation of truth comes belief. From belief in truth comes faith. From faith—confidence in what you believe—comes surrender. From surrender comes obedience. Why not let go into total surrender if I believe in the truth of the Word of God? Do I believe enough that I am confident in the promises and assurances in the Bible? Or, is what I believe clouded by entitlement (sin)?
- Do you believe enough? Is your faith measured according to what you believe you deserve? Explain.
For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Philippians 2:13 (NLT)
Please, let’s pray for each to let go and surrender to the truthful teachings and promises of God’s Word and enter in to the fullness of everything that is God’s best for us. Then He is able to freely work His purpose through us without fighting us like a parent trying to get his child to accept and appreciate something amazing, if the child only believed enough; not in the gift, but in the giver of the gift. What a life it would be.
- What keeps you chained in your recovery journey and Christ-centered life from fully receiving the miracle of the best of the new life experience that God wants and has for you?
- What does it mean for you specifically when Jesus asks the question, “Why do you call Me Lord (meaning authority) and do not do what I say?”
- If you are truly transformed from the inside out by the renewing of your mind—how you think—since you believe in the life-giving and power of God, why doubt? Why divided between what you believe God for and what you actually expect to receive from God?
- How would you describe your level of belief? Honestly, do you fully believe? Do you really? Explain.
- What do you believe God’s best is for you and all that is involved in your world?
- How critical should we be that we are double-minded bridging belief with real-world, real-life circumstances?
- List at least 10 things that you need.
- List at least 10 things that you want.
- Rank each thing on your list according to importance and value.
- Indicate from your lists what you believe you deserve.
- For each thing on your list of what you deserve, why is it that you deserve that thing?
- What are the obstacles in the way keeping you from what you and and need and deserve?
- What do you do to overcome the obstacles in the way of what you want and need and deserve?
- How might what you believe you deserve be rooted in a core belief of entitlement?
- How might your prayer life be corrupted by a core belief of entitlement?
- What can you do to purge your prayer life of selfish motivations?
- How might surrendering your wants and needs and what you believe you deserve clean up your prayer life?
- How is it that your selfish desires and motivations be replaced with God’s desires and motivations specific to your life in your world?
- How would you say the outcomes from your prayer life will be influenced and changed when you seek first God’s best in how you pray and pursue your wants and needs?
- Now spend time meditating on these Scriptures and communicating with God honestly about what you’ve been working on. Confess to Him that your faith as been impacted by selfish motivations and ask for wisdom on where to go from here in your prayer life as well as your daily experience seeking His best.
May God bless you beyond your wildest imaginations!
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