Say It Like You Mean It

“Knowing the correct password—saying ‘Master, Master,’ for instance—isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills.”
Matthew 7:21 (The Message)

Three weeks after Easter, a young man walks up to me in the parking lot and introduces himself as an atheist. I spend three hours with him at a restaurant, giving him every proof point I have. Finally, I ask, "Are you ready to be born again?" He says yes. He prays the words from Romans 10:9, declares Jesus as Lord, saying he believes God raised Him from the dead. Then I ask what I always ask: "Did you mean what you just prayed?" In 47 years of ministry, the answer has always been yes. 

This time he says, "No." He said the right words. He just didn't mean them.

Jesus makes the sobering point in Matthew 7:21 that calling Him Lord is where faith begins, not where it ends. All true Christians will call Jesus Lord, but not all who call Jesus Lord are true Christians. A verbal declaration alone is not a sign of salvation.

There’s an uncomfortable question that moment raises for you. Does the way you spend your mornings, handle your money, and treat the people closest to you say "Jesus is Lord?" Or is it a phrase you carry like a membership card you never actually use? Calling Jesus Lord is not a finish line. 

This week, pray through Psalm 139 and mean every word of it — "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." (v. 23-24, NIV)

Let God examine what's actually there. Let your declaration of Jesus' Lordship be tested, proven, and show up in your actions. 

Words matter, and so does everything that follows them.

Prayer: Sovereign Lord, creator of heaven and earth, I surrender my life to You again today. I I don't want to just say the right things, I want to mean them with my heart. Show me where my words and my actions have come apart. I want my life to declare Your Lordship. In Jesus' name, Amen.