Breathing In and Out.

By Bettie Colson

Quetzaltenango, Guatemala

For what we preach is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves [merely] as your servants (slaves) for Jesus' sake. 2 Corinthians 4:5 (Amplified)

Breathing in: we receive Jesus as Savior. Breathing out: we commit our life to Him as Lord.

If we only offer salvation to people without the lordship of Jesus, we would make it easy and attractive to receive something for nothing. It is true that salvation is a free gift, but the lordship of Jesus is the relationship that is necessary to receive the gift. 

Marriage has been given to us as an illustration of the mystery of Christ and the Church; when we understand marriage the way that God established it, we can understand the relationship of Christ to the Church. The husband loves and the wife follows. It would be wrong for a wife to desire all of the benefits of marriage without the responsibility of following her husband. It would be equally wrong for a husband to enjoy the benefits of marriage without the responsibility of loving his wife. The love of the husband is to be as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her to save and cleanse her. God’s love for us saves us, cleanses us and draws us to Him.

In the same way, we must not offer salvation without lordship. The very act of giving ourselves to Him to follow Him in every area of life gives us the power to walk in obedience to His word. If we only offer salvation to people without stressing the lordship of Jesus, we offer them a powerless life of constant defeat.  As they learn about how to walk with Him, they will lack the power to do what they have learned and be frustrated by their inability to overcome the desires of the flesh.

Confessing the lordship of Jesus is a commitment. According to the Bible it is the only way to be truly saved.  It is erroneous to offer salvation without communicating also the necessity of His lordship in every area of life. It may take longer to “win souls” in this way but our motive must never be simply numbers. If our “converts” do not commit themselves to the lordship of Jesus they will never be true disciples of His. If anything, they would be our disciples, but only committed to us as men. 

This is why some ministries become kingdoms of men rather than part of the Kingdom of God.  Many unbelievers rightly perceive this intention as a mere attempt to change their religion; to have them join our religious “club”.  The danger in this is that we vaccinate both groups of people against the true Gospel.  Those who reject our intentions of adding them into our “club” are less likely to be receptive to the salvation and lordship of Jesus later on. Those who respond to a commitment-free “salvation” may feel like they are “in” and never feel the need to make the commitment that truly insures their salvation.

We receive the gift of eternal life. We must give our old life to be able to receive the new one. This is why it is a new birth, a new creation – old things have passed away. Our old life that we had – being our own lord and deciding our own way – has passed away.

We must breathe in and out.  We receive salvation; we give ourselves to follow Him as Lord. We cannot live by only breathing in.