I found myself thinking about something I heard in a sermon recently, and it has been sitting with me ever since.

The Carnal Christian.

That phrase can make us uncomfortable, and maybe it should. Not because every Christian who struggles with sin is somehow outside of Christ, but because God’s Word calls us to examine the way we are living.

The lesson gave me a simple way to remember what a carnal Christian can look like:

C — Christ
A — As
R — Resident
N — Not
A — As
L — Lord

Christ as Resident, not as Lord.

That’s a powerful thought.

A person can profess to know Christ and yet spend very little time actually knowing Him. Christ may have a place in their life, but not the place of authority. They may believe they are saved, attend church, know some Bible verses, and still continue living according to the desires of the flesh.

And that made me stop and ask myself: Is Christ simply a resident in my life, or is He truly Lord of my life?

Paul addressed this very issue when he wrote to the Corinthians. He called them brethren, yet he told them they were still carnal because of the way they were living and behaving.

“For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions…”
1 Corinthians 3:3, KJV



That should make every believer pause.

Being saved isn’t supposed to be the finish line. It is the beginning of a relationship with Jesus Christ. We aren’t called simply to have Christ living in us while we continue running our own lives. We are called to surrender to Him as Lord.

That means getting into His Word.

It means praying.

It means listening.

It means obeying.

It means allowing the Holy Spirit to convict us when we wander.

It means putting the desires of the flesh under the authority of Christ.

And none of that means we will live perfectly. We won’t. Every believer will stumble. Every believer will have moments of weakness. But there should be a desire within us to grow, to repent, and to become more like Christ.

So perhaps the question isn’t simply, “Is Christ in my life?”

Perhaps the better question is:

“Who is in control of my life?”

Is Christ simply a resident who occupies a room in my house while I control the rest?

Or have I surrendered the keys?

That’s a question worth sitting under the tin roof and thinking about.

Because Jesus didn’t save us so He could simply have an address in our hearts.

He is Lord.

So today, I’m asking myself the same question I’m asking you:

Is Christ merely a resident in my life, or is He truly my Lord?

Until the rain falls again…

Grace and peace,

A Porch Believer