Kingdom Principles

Kingdom Concept #2

not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me (Matthew 10:37-38). Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead” (Matthew 8:21-22).

If Jesus is Lord, He must receive first priority in your life. He is above every other love and every other loyalty. He is above every goal, dream, and ambition. You cannot be a disciple and say, “Lord, first let me…” He must be first…in everything . Otherwise, He is not truly Lord of your life, regardless of what you say. Jesus said: Why do you call me, “Lord, Lord,” and do not do what I say? (Luke 6:46). You cannot call Him Lord and then start making excuses for not obeying Him. You can’t claim that He owns you and then go ahead and do whatever you please. In the Kingdom of Heaven there is no such thing as a “weekend citizen.” You do not follow Him one time and not another depending on your preference. If Jesus is Lord, you cannot live for Him on Sunday and for yourself the rest of the week. Jesus is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all. The Lordship of Christ is a 24/7 proposition. There is no other schedule. Living under a Lord also means giving up all concepts of person al ownership. This does not mean you have to sell your house or sell your car or give away all your personal possessions. It does mean learning not to take a proprietary view toward these things. The King of Heaven is a righteous and benevolent Lord who graciously allows us to use and fully appropriate His riches and resources and all good things. That is one of our rights as Kingdom citizens. We can enjoy all of these things without measure as long as we remem ber who owns them. The moment we begin to think that they belong to us, however, we set ourselves up for trouble. If we think owner ship is ours, we make ourselves a lord. This takes us out of alignment

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