For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself… So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.
—Romans 14:7-9
Before Paul tackles the disagreements that can divide a church, he checks our egos at the door by bringing everything back to one simple, reasonable, relevant truth: Jesus is Lord. “None of us lives to himself… whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” That settles a great deal before any argument even begins.
Here’s the simple truth at the center of it all: Jesus is Lord. He proved it in His sinless life, His saving death, His resurrection, and His promise to return. The Christian faith is not a cause, a creed, or a church, it is Christ, and Christ alone, who is Lord of all.
And because He is Lord, our lives are not our own. We don’t live to ourselves, and we don’t die to ourselves. Whether we live or whether we die, we belong to Him. As Paul says elsewhere, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” There’s tremendous freedom in that, you don’t have to carry the weight of belonging to yourself anymore. You belong to the Lord.
So, the simple truth raises a personal question: Jesus is Lord, but is He your Lord? Is He Lord of your life? When Paul wrote this, Christians were being killed for daring to say “Jesus is Lord” instead of “Caesar is lord.” To this day, believers around the world are jailed and persecuted for the same confession. It will likely cost you something too, maybe not prison, but a missed promotion, a strained relationship, being left out, being the punchline at the watercooler. Yet when I consider all He has done for me, how dare I shrink back or silence myself for fear of a little cultural cancellation?
Here’s a distinction worth getting right. Sometimes people say, “I trusted Jesus as my Savior, and later He became my Lord.” But He doesn’t become your Lord, He is Lord. The question is never whether you can promote Him to that position. The question is whether you have yielded and surrendered and submitted your life to the Lordship He already holds. For too many believers, Jesus is Savior but not Sovereign, and any area of life not yielded to His Lordship becomes a foothold for the enemy.
So, I simply ask you to make Jesus the unrivaled, undisputed Lord of your life. No rival. No retreat. Let His Lordship mean real surrender, your ambitions, your attitudes, your actions, your body, and an unashamed confession of Him before family, friends, and neighbors.
You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Whether you live or die, you are the Lord’s. Live like it today.
JESUS IS LORD. THE QUESTION IS WHETHER HE IS YOUR LORD. NO RIVAL, NO RETREAT. YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN.
