The hard way—that’s how I learned Lordship, number 41 on my list of 70 things every man needs to know.
For the first decade of my spiritual journey, I knew Jesus was my Savior, but I chose to remain in control of my life. I had plans! When I prayed, I never came to God with a blank sheet of paper but rather a long list of things I wanted Him to do for me.
Someone told me early on I should read the Bible every day, so I did—but usually looking for evidence to support the decisions I had already made.
I bulldozed my way to worldly success. But at the ten-year mark, it was clear that I wasn’t being impacted by my faith in the same way that some of my friends were. So I called a time out, thinking it’d last a couple of weeks. Instead, I spent the next 2 ½ years staring at my navel.
One day while reading Matthew 13:22 (the third seed in the parable of the sower), I realized I had let the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of money choke the Word and make it unfruitful. In a moment of surrender, I wrote in the front of my Bible: “I want to live the rest of my earthly life for the will of God,” and I really meant it. Still do.
To be honest, at the time I was so arrogant that I thought I was doing God a favor. Imagine how much He’s going to be able to accomplish now that He has me on His side. Lucky God!
But God saw it differently. It was as though God said, “Pat, I can really see you are serious here. The problem is that you’ve given me so little to work with that I’m going to have to start over with you.”
I discovered the hard way that when we make statements to God that we really mean, He will make us mean them. I spent the next seven years in a business crisis of epic proportions. Less than a year into it, I was so exhausted that I wanted to give up. I was begging God for relief, telling Him all the reasons why He should help me. I sensed Him saying, “Pat, nothing you do will ever make you good enough for me to love you. I love you because I made you.” That was the first day I genuinely understood grace—and my heart become softer
Not long after, sitting in the rubble of my collapsing empire, I had a thought that I think is the most important lesson I’ve ever learned: There is a God we want and there is a God who is. They are not the same God. The turning point of our lives is when we stop seeking the God we want and start seeking the God who is.
Finally, it dawned on me: Morley, what were you thinking? Did you really think that any amount of you wanting to change Him into the God you wanted Him to be was going to have one iota of impact on His unchanging nature and character? This is the God who hurled to cosmos into existence, who regulates the rising and setting of the sun, and who oversees the ebb and flow of the tides—and you thought you could work Him?
I realized that, because I am a rebel (as most men are), I must each morning come humbly to the foot of the cross and once again make a full, total, complete surrender of my life to the Lordship of Jesus. That’s the deal.
Notice I didn’t say that I made Him my Lord. We’ve all heard a man say something like, “I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was seventeen years old, but I didn’t make Him Lord until I was thirty-two.” The truth is that Jesus is the Lord of all men and women in all places, always, in all ways—whether we acknowledge it or not. Peter declared, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36a, ESV).
As Lord, Jesus is the creator and sustainer of all men (even those who spurn His name) and, as Savior, the redeemer of those who believe. We belong to Jesus. He is our owner. He is our benefactor. In fact, He is our Lord whether He is our Savior or not. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father” (Matthew 10:29, ESV).
But thankfully, there is no greater source of strength and joy than to surrender daily to the Lordship of Jesus. The irony of surrender is that it leads not to defeat, but victory. And there is no greater privilege or responsibility than to lead men into the kind of surrendered relationship with Jesus that Jesus wants.
Consider these Bible verses from the Apostle Paul: “For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living” (Romans 14:9, NIV), and “there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live” (1 Corinthians 8:6b, NIV).
Teach men to each day come humbly to the foot of the cross and make a full, total, complete surrender of their lives to the Lordship of Jesus. That’s the deal.
In 1986, Patrick Morley launched a small Bible study in a bar that grew into Man in the Mirror, a global ministry reaching millions Iof men and thousands of churches. His book The Man in the Mirror became one of the 20th century’s most influential. A leading voice on men’s discipleship, he’s authored 22 books and 750+ articles, with global translations. Patrick holds degrees from UCF, Harvard, Oxford, and Reformed Theological Seminary. He and his wife live in Winter Park, Florida. Learn more at the Patrick Morley website.
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The article reminds me of good old days when we were teenagers. My elder sister was in a boarding school and every time she was returng home at the end of school-term, she often brought some new Christian songs, poems, jokes and life- transforming words for us {siblings). One day she asked me ; ” Isaac, Are you a friend in deed or a friend in need ?” Sincerely speaking, I did not understand this question deeply but we ended up laughing broadly.
Years later, when I was now an adult, I came to realize that some people are really just friends in need, not in deed, and I really disliked it. However, I’m now having no problem with this. I’m broken as I have realized that even me, is a friend in need but only Christ Jesus is a friend in deed.
Your friend – His servant,
Isaac Otieno