Does the Bible Tell You How to Live Your Life?

By Dr. Brandon Steenbock, Family Minister

Romans 10:9 - If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

“I believe the Bible is there to show me my Savior, but it’s not there to tell me how to live my life.” 

Someone recently said that to me, and I recoiled in my mind and heart at the sentiment. Seriously? You think the Bible has nothing to say about how to live your life?

But the more I think about it, the more I think it’s a common idea. A lot of people love the idea of Jesus. Love the idea that he is all about love, all about “showing us the way to God,” all about letting us know that we’re accepted. But what happens when he tells you how to live?

Paul doesn’t give us wiggle room in this verse. To declare “Jesus is Lord” is more than just giving lip service to the idea that Jesus is God. It’s declaring that he is the master of your life, the one who gives you identity, purpose, and meaning. It’s saying that he gets to tell you how to live. If Jesus isn’t your Lord, he isn’t your Savior, because he’s not going to be used as a tool for you to get what you want while you reject his will for your life. 

Furthermore, as Paul says, the standard of belief isn’t just that you see Jesus as a good teacher who’s all about love and showing the way. The standard is to admit to the impossible - that Jesus rose from the grave. That death was defeated. That a man died and yet lives. This has implications for all other aspects of life. It says there’s more than just the stuff of this life, this world. It says there’s an afterlife and eternity. This is bigger than you. 

But Jesus wants to be your Savior. He wants to be your Lord. He proved it by giving his life for you. By taking your guilt and shame and sin and carrying them to the cross. Dying in your place. Substituting himself for you. And when he rose from death, he rose to destroy death forever, so you don’t have to fear it. To give you hope for eternity. 

Yes, he wants to be your Savior. And he wants to be your Lord. He doesn’t just want half your heart. He wants your whole life. He wants to live in you and through you so that you can live for him. 

See, that’s the problem with, “Jesus is my Savior, but he doesn’t tell me how to live.” 

The Gospel isn’t just about getting saved from sin; it’s about transforming your entire life. It’s about dying and rising to new life. It’s about being changed by the one who already is your Lord, whether you want him to be or not. 

This is why Paul says that salvation is connected both to believing in Jesus’ resurrection and declaring his Lordship. This isn’t an “if/then” proposition, a decision you make from the outside. It’s an invitation to know Jesus as he is - Savior, Lord, Risen One, and to be transformed by him.

Yes. The Bible exists to show you Jesus as your Savior. To show you Jesus as the one who died and rose. And to show you Jesus as your Lord. To renew and transform you to be like him. He is all of this, all at once. And he wants you.