Who is Jesus to you? Is He an example of how to live a good life? Perhaps you consider Him to be the greatest teacher or philosopher who ever walked the earth. Most who read this blog would respond that He is their savior. Many would even dare to claim that Jesus is the Lord of their lives. Some people think that Jesus was a lunatic. Others think He is nothing more than legend, a nice story developed to encourage people to live moral lives. What others say is of no consequence. All that matters is who Jesus is to you.
According to the Bible, there is only one appropriate response to Jesus: to make Him Lord of your life. This means to love Him with all your heart, with all your strength, and with all your mind (Luke 10:25-28). There are no shortcuts to Jesus, no half-ways, or “almosts”. Jesus demands everything. He insists on total devotion (Luke 18:18-23; Matthew 8:18-22; Matthew 10:32-39 ). Throughout Scripture God blessed those who sought Him and destruction soon found those who did not. You can’t have a divided allegiance (Matthew 6:24; Matthew 12:30). It’s all or nothing. Most of us know this mentally but few live it out in our daily lives.
We are content with compromise, comfortable in our comforts. Following Christ most likely means we would find certain luxuries stripped from our lives. Our friends would laugh at us. Our neighbors would think we’d gone crazy. None of that matters if Jesus is the Lord of your life. The only thing that matters is Him. Would you rather have a new boat, a nice car, a big house, or Jesus? Do you find more satisfaction in a fancy title, an attractive spouse, a big reputation, or Jesus? What matters to us most speaks volumes about who Jesus is to us. How we spend our time and money is directly related to who Jesus is in our lives.
If you’re not with Jesus, then you are against Him (Matthew 12:30).Most of us understand that. What we don’t get, however, is that being “with” Jesus means being with Him 100%. You can’t be on God’s side today and on your own side tomorrow. Making Jesus Lord of your life is something that requires your devotion twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. There is no time off for those determined to pursue Jesus at any cost. Satan will use every tool at his disposal to knock you off course, but Christ is more than able to sustain you through the storm.
Jesus isn’t a “nice to have” in life. He either means everything to you or He means nothing. The Son of God accepts no half-hearted commitments. Believing in Jesus is easy; serving Him is hard. Following Him brings no promise of security or wealth. But the reward is beyond measure: eternity spent in the presence of your Creator and Savior. His only request is that you serve Him today and for the rest of your days on earth. He is Lord or He is nothing. Who is Jesus to you?