“But in your hearts set Christ apart [as holy—acknowledging Him, giving Him first place in your lives] as Lord. Always be ready to give a [logical] defense to anyone who asks you to account for the hope and confident assurance [elicited by faith] that is within you, yet [do it] with gentleness and respect.” (1 Peter 3:15, AMP)
The Message translation puts it a bit more blunt, but spot on.
“Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick.”
That’s said succinctly but also unmistakable – you can’t misunderstand what’s being said.
The beginning is the beginning… simple: you start with making Jesus, Your Savior. This is our first step but it doesn’t stop with accepting the Father’s invitation of Jesus’ gift of salvation. Then you begin your journey/adventure to making Jesus – Lord. I seriously doubt that you move immediately from Savior to Lord. I believe this is a process… an ongoing, never ending process – always invigorating, never onerous. It is based in the scripture that tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). Obviously, the place to begin is to know, understand, and apply what we DO know and understand about what our faith is… not just the who it’s in, but what it’s about.
One scripture that arrested me early in my walk was: “Everything that is not of faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23) That says it bluntly enough. If our words and actions don’t stem from what we believe, who we believe, and how we demonstrate both then our behavior is sin … because there’s no faith. I interpret that to mean that when I am not speaking from (or acting upon) faith as my foundation, I am in sin. Harsh? But isn’t that what Romans says? Granted the context in Romans was about eating… however, how can you isolate this? I see it as a principle. If you don’t believe this – what is your foundation, how do you determine was is your authority?
“Behold, I stand at the door [of the church] and continually knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him (restore him), and he with Me. He who overcomes [the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God]. I will grant to him [the privilege] to sit beside Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down beside My Father on His throne.” [Revelation 1:20-21, AMP]
Did you realize that these verses in Revelation are spoken to us – His church? Don’t misunderstand… Jesus is our Savior and our life begins with our acceptance of His invitation for salvation that He gives to us. Being our Savior begins the journey, the adventure because I also believe that there is ‘a next’ step. And… I have to ask – if He’s your Savior, is He your Master, your Lord?
At the time these scriptures were written, there had been in place the practice by some servants who had fulfilled their obligation and could walk free. They could choose to be a servant for life. If they did, then I think there was a piercing in an ear and a ring of some sort that identified them as choosing to stay with their master. Though I have no authority on this, especially since I haven’t really studied it out, I believe that the choice was a life long one and once chosen, was irreversible.
How does this related to our decision to become the Lord’s servant and how does this distinguish this person from others? A parallel, I believe, also describes those who come to the Lord with their request to never be separated from Him. We choose to never depart, to become and do those things that honor Him. We act on the scripture that tells us:
“For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us]” [Ephesians 2:10, AMP]
Goodness… what a present and future we have when Jesus is our Savior and our Lord.
