Have you ever met someone who says that they have accepted Christ as Savior, but will say quite bluntly that they just have not accepted Him as Lord yet. Believe it or not, there are a lot of people out there that say this exact thing, they will profess Him as the Savior of their soul, but they just cannot yet make Him Lord over their entire life, as if there is a choice. They are quite capable of debating this topic with you, but as the truth of God always does, sooner or later in the conversation they will excuse themselves, they are of course busy people.
Our souls could not be saved by any less than the One who created them, this should be very plain to anyone who hears this truth, yet to them that can differentiate between a Savior and a Lord by the amount of their life that they have determined to give over to Christ is again foolishness in the extreme, for a servant has no right to rebel against his Master, although they have the power to. Think here on Onesimus, (The Book of Philemon) we do not know why he left the house of his master, but for the most part, the reason that any slave runs away is because of discontentment, no matter in which form it arrives.
One cannot say they have been saved by the power of God through Christ and then live a life of discontentment, He is either Lord and Savior, or He is neither, the titles when applied to Jesus are indistinguishable. A decision can be made, again, a debatable point, by each individual as to whether or not they will accept the salvation that is offered by Christ, but at the exact moment that you call Him Savior, you are also calling Him Lord. One of the easiest ways to end the conversation with these individuals, or the best way to help them to see the error of their thought process, if you like, is to quote and explain Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
It is a prerequisite to salvation by grace, one must die to self, at the exact moment that we call Him Lord, you cannot call Him only Savior, or Lord, unless you have died to self. Crucifixion is a long slow death, but it does not take months or even years, one cannot call Jesus Lord and then a few years later decide to be crucified, the choice is not ours in this matter. Many religious organizations of course do not teach these truths they have exchanged being baptized with living a crucified life, in fact, when cornered about this subject, they also will flee to an important engagement, for if all in the congregation of bondage were to accept these truths, they would no longer follow their blind leaders.
To be crucified means to die, one cannot be raised from the dead unless they have first died, that is obvious to a child, working out our own salvation, (Phil. 2:12) is not the slow process of crucifixion over a lifetime, it is “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2) Jesus did not come to save people by His sacrificial death on the cross for us so that at some later time they could decide to call Him Lord, and there is definitely not a timeframe for us to make a decision to be crucified with Him, either you died on that cross with Him who is Lord of all or you did not. The Roman Catholic Institution would have you believe that He is still on that cross, that is why all of their crucifixes keep Him there, it is not used as a reminder, the cross alone would do that.
The Lord we serve left that cross behind, He left the tomb behind, He is risen, and if you have been risen with Him, then He is your Lord. Another word for Lord is Master, and whether anyone alive wants to admit it or believe it or not, Jesus is Lord of all. “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.” (Col. 1:16)
If you have been crucified with Him, you are saved, if not, it matters not what title you give Him, or the length or amount of service that you have deemed worthy to give of yourself to Him, if He is not Lord, then He is nothing in your mind. It will not matter one bit on that day in the future that is coming though, all will bend the knee and call Him Lord then.