Day two of the Questions for Mark study and I will again use one devotional question to inspire this devotional.

“How responsive are you to Jesus’ authority? Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any resistance in your heart.”

Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

It is not enough to say Jesus is Lord. You have to accept His authority over your life. If He is truly Lord you do not have the right to say no or to refuse to do what is asked of you. This is a problem for many because we seek Jesus as a friend first and friends ask, they do not command.

John 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

We have never been friends with God before and might not know how to act. Treating God as just another one of our friends is a poor vision of this verse. Jesus is telling us He is willing to share everything He has heard with us, not just the command. That is a special relationship but it should never lessen His Lordship over our lives.

John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Obedience shifts from servitude to love. Jesus is asking you to obey because you love Him not merely because He is Lord.

1 Peter 1:22-23 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.