Seven-Day Practical Faith Blog: Is Jesus My Lord in All My Ways?

Proverbs 3:5-6 In all your ways submit to him

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Reading this famous Proverb again today, I was struck anew by the phrase "in all your ways submit to him." I wondered, do I truly submit all my ways to Jesus?

I once led a retreat entitled "Lord of All." We say that Jesus is Lord of All, but is he the Lord of me? The Lord of everything having to do with me?

For example, is Jesus the Lord of my finances? Do I tithe, or if not, am I at least a generous giver? Am I a good steward of my money? Do I consider it a gift from God and therefore God's money, or do I see it as MINE?

Is Jesus the Lord of my time? If I kept a log of my time usage, what would I find? Am I too engaged with doom scrolling or politics or mindless distractions? Do I donate my time to others - not just as a volunteer, but to family members and friends as well?

Which brings to mind: is Jesus the Lord of my relationships? While we need to be a light to all and be unafraid to engage with anyone, it's also true that negative relationships can bring us down if we are not positive influencers in the situation. How about this: do I have relationships in which I use people? It's a question to ask ourselves.

And returning to the Proverb, do I submit all my ways to Jesus? Are my habits worthwhile or damaging? Have I submitted my use of alcohol or food to him? Have I submitted my golfing or pickleball? Have I submitted my thought life? Have I surrendered my judgmental opinions of others? My political opinions? My opinions of anyone different from me?

To be clear, I'm not calling for us to lead a monastic life, and neither does Jesus. It's just that there is a way of going about life that is a straight, narrow path that considers and follows Jesus in all that we do, and there is a wandering, distracted path that may not consider Jesus's viewpoints so much. We may be compartmentalizing Jesus, leaving him to Sundays or morning prayer but not engaging with him in all our ways.

Part of our seven-day practical faith journey is to deeply consider how we are actually submitting to Christ in all our ways and whether we can do better, 24x7.

I encourage you to listen to the Practical Faith Academy podcast. Of course, I deliver new episodes twice per month, but there is now a store of more than 50 podcasts that you can scroll through and listen to, on all kinds of faith topics. Discover the Practical Faith Academy podcast by searching for it on major podcasting platforms or by visiting the Free Content page of CecilTaylorMinistries. com.