I've been re-reading James Boice's Christ's Call to Discipleship (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1986) recently and was newly struck by something he says in his preface:
"It is not unusual to hear about Christ's being Lord of all life and that we must acknowledge this if we are Christians. But those who understand what Christ's lordship actually means face a battle on two fronts. One front is manned by the world, which seeks to push Christians back onto the reservation. It says that believers can practice their religion there, where it will do no harm, but that they are not to think of bringing Christianity into the real world of politics, economics, law, and individual 'rights.'....But the other front is equally challenging. It is held by well-intentioned but erring Christians who believe that it is possible to have Jesus as Savior without having Him as Lord and even go so far as to say that 'lordship salvation,' as they call it, is a false gospel....[But, in opposition to these things,] Jesus...said, 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me' (Luke 9:23)....[and] who told the Jews of His day, 'Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven' (Matthew 5:20)....I believe that if America could produce a generation of Christians who genuinely affirm and live by these teachings, that generation by the power of God could transform the world."
I agree, and I pray the Lord to grant such a generation of Christians!
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