Jesus Christ Our LORD and Savior

Then Jesus said to all the people: If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross each day and follow me. [Luke 9:23, CEV]

I find it interesting that, according to some polls, about 85% of all Americans claim to be Christians. In other words, they claim that Jesus Christ is their Savior. But do they claim Christ to be LORD of their lives?

If 85% of all Americans claim Jesus to be LORD of their lives, then why does our country seem to be falling apart? Why do we have 16% of our children living in poverty? Why does our prison population increase? Why are issues such as declining moral values, same-sex marriages, violence and sex in our television shows, movies, music, and video games even issues? If Jesus Christ is truly the LORD of 85% of all Americans, then I should see my church filled to capacity every Sunday for three services and once again on Wednesday night.

But that's not happening. It's easy to say that Jesus is our Savior. But to say that Jesus is LORD over our lives is totally different. Too many are not even willing to take up a cross, let alone actually pick one up.

My own church is going through a struggle right now. Our senior pastor is technically retired as of July 1, but is serving as interim pastor until the next July 1. Part of the reason our Bishop and District Superintendant have not appointed a new pastor is because they're trying figure out what kind of pastor we need. Another part of the struggle is that the church is trying to find its identity and purpose in the community. I'm not certain that our church as a whole is able to discern its priorities (something I find hard to believe when you consider that Christ helped define our priorities).

At the risk of ruffling some feathers, I believe we have too much focus on the arts (of which I'm heavily involved in) and worship that some feel need to be just so; we don't have enough focus on outreach and stewardship. We have a wonderful choir, but frankly it's not filling the pews. We have a wonderful contemporary service which actually draws more than the traditional service. But it's not enough.

I think it's time we take a hard look at ourselves and make it a priority to take up our crosses - daily.