“Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him a name that is above all names, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” (Phil. 2:9-10)
Jesus came not to merely be the Savior of the world, the sacrificial Lamb of God, and the redeemer of the lost, all of which are true. These things are secondary in terms of His ultimate end purpose. He came to establish His governmental rule. He came as Lord (Greek word -Kyrios), and He calls upon men everywhere to acknowledge and willingly submit to His Lordship. He is Lord regardless whether one acknowledges it or not. He directs the affairs of all men and it really is only an illusion to think that we are in control. Nevertheless, God has given us the capacity to make decisions and choose to align our will with Him or to go our own way. The Bible tells us, “There is a way that seems right to man, but the end is the way of death” (Prov. 14:12). The Old Testament is the story of Israel choosing their own way, and experiencing the consequences.
In our fallenness we seek to establish our own “lordship” over our lives and control the course and direction of our lives. This is the essence of sin, to “go our own way each one to our own way” (Isa. 53:6).
Allow me to share with you these words I wrote to a group of new believers:
“When I first became a believer in Christ, it was explained to me that I needed to “turn my life over to Him.” I, like most of you, found that easier to say than to do. I like to have the “steering wheel” of my life in my hands. I like to be in control. It is a little bit scary to surrender that control to Jesus. Yeah, I know He loves me, but He might drive slower than I want to go. He might drive me to places I don’t want to go. Surrendering the steering wheel to Him means He gets to make the decisions for my life.
Sometimes I have taken the steering wheel back and made my own choices. This has always resulted in disaster. I have had a number of “collisions” as a result of my driving. Afterwards, I feel pretty stupid, and end up asking for His forgiveness and turning the steering wheel back over to Him. Regretting that I had taken control.
I have come to realize that He is a much better driver than me. I have also learned that the places He will take me are better than the places I would have chosen. More and more, I am learning to give Jesus the steering wheel and sit back and enjoy the journey. My advice to you is: Give Jesus the Steering Wheel.”