Saying and Doing: two very different things. (Luke 6:46)

"Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? (Luke 6:46 NASB)

What a perfect verse for Easter morning! As I write this, I am listening to the symphony of birds singing praise to our Lord. Wise birds. So should we also break forth in joyful song on this glorious morning! He is risen!

The question Jesus raises here is an important one. Why do we profess Christ but do not obey Him? Exactly. It makes no sense to claim to follow Jesus yet fail to follow Him. 

Can we be a follower of Christ if we don't actually follow?  

Selah. Pause and consider. 

I know the answer to the question Jesus asked. I don't like it, but I have first hand knowledge of the answer. Why don't we obey Him when we call Him Lord? We don't obey because we don't want to obey.  

Another reason we don't obey is because we don't know what He said in the first place. That is not an excuse, of course. The words of Christ are not hidden away. We can know what He said. If we don't obey because we don't know Scripture, it is because we have chosen not to know it. Even for passages that seem inscrutable, understanding is available through the help of the Holy Spirit. 

If the only verses we understood and obeyed were the Greatest commandment, "And He said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' (Matthew 22:37 NASB) and the second greatest, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' (Matthew 22:39 NASB), we would be able to please Him with our obedience. Obeying those two verses could change the world. Why don't we obey them? We choose not to obey. 

In the end, a simple choice separates us from calling Him Lord and making Him Lord  it is a choice we make on a daily basis. Will we obey?

As we celebrate the victory over sin and death that the Resurrection brought, let us not lose sight of the fact that victory over sin means we are not controlled by our penchant for sinning. We have a decision to make this fine Easter morning. Will we follow Jesus or just talk about Him?

Pray today that our words and actions match so completely that, when our loved ones see us, they get a clear picture of the One we say we follow.