09/28/2025
The most convicting verse in the whole Bible is our memory verse this week! “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?" - Luke 6:46
I, Brady, personally think it is the most convicting verse, because every saint has called Jesus "Lord," yet every saint has turned and sinned against Him. Jesus could ask this heart-piercing question to all of us.
Especially after He sets the bar of obeying Him so high in the verses prior:
“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. - Luke 6:27-31 ESV
It makes you think twice before singing that "He is Lord," doesn't it?
It makes you want to examine your thoughts, habits, and motivations to find places in your life that are not submitted to Him, doesn't it?
It makes you wonder if there are things you don't even realize you do or say that are not in obedience to Him, doesn't it?
It leads you to humility, in seeing Jesus, the Forgiver of enemies, as infinitely more holy than you, doesn't it? It should!
I believe that was Jesus' intention.
He tears off the blinders of our pride to show us how sinful we really are and how inconsistent we can be. He shows us that we say one thing with our mouth, then say something else with our actions or "fruit."
Why? Is He just trying to make us feel shame?
I believe that if this verse leads you to shame and despair, then you do not understand the whole context.
One reason Jesus says this, is to show that if God's standard is perfection, then He is the only One Who meets it. He leads us to fall in humility on His righteousness in faith, abandoning our own.
And that kind of humble faith is what we see Jesus praise in the next chapter. He says that a Roman centurion, an oppressor of Jews at that time who is brought to his knees in humble desperation, has more faith than anyone in all of Israel. He has compassion on a lowly widow and a doubting prophet, then commends a sobbing, sinful woman. All people who call Him Lord because they put their life into His hands.
Let this verse break you down and humble you, then let it encourage you because it is only when you are broken in humility before Jesus, depending on His righteousness alone, that you can bear good fruit with your actions and authentically call Him Lord.
