Colossians 2:6 – Jesus as Lord

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him …

Summary: Accepting Jesus as Lord is important, but Paul challenges us to think about our relationship with Jesus and what it means for our lives.

I love the way Paul writes! His words sound simple and pleasing to the ear, yet when we look at them in detail, there is a vast expanse of meaning behind them. 

Take today’s passage, for example: 

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him …” (Colossians 2:6)

Paul tells us to live our lives in Jesus “just as you received [him] as Lord.”

What does that mean? 

I was raised in a family that went to church every Sunday. We all seemed to agree that there was a reason for going to church. In my childish mind, I guessed that the reason was that we all believed God existed. 

Being raised in a Lutheran church, we repeated one of the creeds every Sunday. Most often, that was what is called the “Apostle’s Creed.” It is a simple creed, which after many repetitions became something we could all say from memory. It begins with, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord…” 

So right there, you can see that we recognized Jesus as Lord every Sunday. (He got an extra-special affirmation on the Sundays we said the Nicene Creed!) But is saying Jesus is Lord the same as receiving him as Lord?*

Personally, I don’t think so. 

Those childhood Sundays were comforting like a Norman Rockwell painting is comforting. They affirm the traditions of our past, but they don’t necessarily change our future. 

Receiving Jesus as Lord is future-changing.

Paul isn’t suggesting we repeat the Apostle’s Creed every day. He is talking about living our lives with the same commitment to the Lord we felt when we first accepted Jesus into our hearts. 

For those of you who don’t know what I am talking about, there comes a point for many of us where we realize we need help. In that moment, it is not enough to show up on Sunday and pay our respects to Jesus. We need Jesus to take control. 

The person Paul is talking about has realized that receiving Jesus changes things. Instead of serving our own interests, we choose to serve His. 

Does this mean that everything in life suddenly gets easier? 

No, unfortunately not. Even Paul, with his intimate relationship with the Lord, struggles with desires that conflict with the Lord’s (Romans 7-8).

The difference, I think, is this:

My childhood Sundays were all about accepting that Jesus is Lord in the same way that I accepted the sun as a source of light. He is the Lord of everything … out there.

Receiving Jesus as Lord is personal. He enters into the dirty hovel of our innermost being and brings light into the darkness. He looks into our eyes and we realize that he cares. Not with some abstract kind of caring that nobody can feel, but with a caring that is deeply personal. He cares about me and you. In that moment, we receive Jesus as Lord. Paul wants us to continue living that way. 

Application: If you already have faith in Jesus, add obedience. 

Food for Thought: How does receiving Jesus as Lord change us? 

*There are different views on the meanings of “accepting” and “receiving” Jesus as Lord. The point of this meditation is to focus on how we live for Jesus. Salvation is a gift from God, not dependent on works of any kind.