“But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.”
1 Peter 3:14-15 NLT
Peter instructed His readers to “worship Christ as Lord of [their lives]”. But what does it mean to do this, as is it a relevance today? We might bristle a little at the thought of a lord, who we might imagine as being the inhabitant of a large stately home who attends the upper house in the UK parliament. A person who speaks with a “posh” accent and seems divorced from the pressures and problems experienced by ordinary people. But that is not the sort of “lord” that Peter was writing about. A “lord” is someone with authority and control over others, a ruler and someone worthy of respect. In the days before Jesus’ death and resurrection, referring to Him as “Lord” was just being respectful, as we read in Matthew 8:25, “The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”” But we remember the exclamation from Thomas in John 20:28, after he at last accepted Jesus’ deity, ““My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.”
The recipients of Peter’s letter had never met Jesus and yet Peter instructed them to make Him Lord of their lives. This means that they were to submit to His authority, doing the things He asked them to do. Behaving in a way honouring to Him. Being in submission and obeying His every word. And the same applies to us pilgrims today. We too have the same opportunity to follow Jesus, making Him Lord of our lives. Jesus exemplified much of what this means as He made His way around Palestine, teaching the disciples and the people, and healing all who came to Him. And He even washed His disciples feet on one occasion, and we read in John 13:13-15, “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you“.
We pilgrims today read the Scriptures and find there all we need to properly honour Jesus as our Lord. But it is an attitude of mind and deed that we have to work at, and always being aware of the warning that Jesus taught, “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?” (Luke 6:46). It is indeed not good enough to go through the motions of religiosity, without sincerity in our hearts. Jesus can see right through us to the very inner workings of soul and mind.
One day everyone in Heaven and on earth will have to bend the knee before Jesus and acknowledge His Lordship. We read in Philippians 2:9-11, “Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honour and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father“. Much better to live a life devoted to Christ as Lord in this life, than wait for an hour full of regret when a missed opportunity becomes an eternity without Him.
Dear Lord and Father of all mankind. Forgive our foolish ways, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 