Acts 2:36-39
“therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Reflection
After Peter and the other disciples had received the Holy Spirit they began to proclaim the good news of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. Peter preached a sermon to the crowds that had gathered in Jerusalem. At the end of the sermon Peter made this statement: “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Peter is proclaiming that Jesus is Lord. However, what does it mean to live with the reality that Jesus is Lord in our lives and in the world? Well, if we look at Peter’s instructions to the crowd in this passage we discover that one of the ways to live as Jesus as Lord is to repent of our sins and ask for forgiveness and live in the power of the Holy Spirit. To know Jesus as Lord does not stop there. If Jesus is Lord then he literally owns us and he owns the church. Everything that we do in our lives, in the church, and in the world should be checked through the reality of what Jesus would want in each of those situations. To truly know Jesus as Lord is to live with him calling the shots, not us.
It is easy to say that Jesus is Lord. It is another thing to live with that reality.
Spend some time reflecting on what it would mean in your life if you truly took the concept of Jesus is Lord seriously. How might your daily life change?
