He loves. He loves. He loves.
But as sure, strong, and freeing as the love of Christ is, his reign is also. The Lordship of Christ cannot be eclipsed by his love, and I fear that’s what we are all too tempted to do in a relativistic world. We choose love over lordship (or what we think is love). The pressure to make Christ loving, but not Lord, presses from all sides.
Why are we trying to separate what cannot be separated?
Christ’s love and lordship are innately bound together. In fact, we cannot understand the depth and utter ridiculous nature of his love without honoring and submitting to his lordship.
I’m going to sound like Soren Kierkegaard here. Faith is a leap. We are lured by Jesus, attracted to him, and we seek to understand him. Then we must take a leap of faith and submit to his lordship. We cannot rationalize our way to Christ, sorting through all his laws like reading a business contract. We cannot test his love out, make sure it fits our definition of tolerance.
We must leap to him. Accept him as Lord. Then, when He sends his Spirit to dwell within us, we more fully grasp the truth embedded in his love and lordship.
When word battles and worldview clashes wear us out, we simply must come back to the lordship of Jesus. He is Lord. He has supreme authority. And why is this? Well, because the Father gave it to him, but also, because he bled for our sins and conquered death. We weren’t given supreme authority, and we didn’t bleed for our own sins. This is the utterly ridiculous nature of God’s love, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
So you see how lordship and love are tied together? The utmost expression of his love solidifies his lordship.
The question is, will we submit?