It is undoubtedly the most common name for God used in Christianity. You hear it in sayings like, "Praise the Lord", "Jesus is Lord" and "Thank the Lord." Most of us, including myself, have thoughtlessly accepted the word into our vocabularies. But have any of us ever questioned the practice?
Where is Lord used outside of Christianity? The word Lord is rarely seen outside of its Christian context. Many of us might relate the word to Medieval times. That's not far off. The use of Lord, as a name for God, started with the King James Version (Authorised Version). And for the most part, it's not an accurate translation. It is a surprise that modern translations continue with this inaccuracy.
What word is translated as Lord in the Old Testament? If you look in the Hebrew scriptures, you will find that 99% of the time, the word translated as Lord is Yahweh. So, what happened? It could be that we followed Jewish sensitivities in regards to the Name of God, using it a sparingly as possible, just as Matthew did when he used "kingdom of heaven" instead of "kingdom of God". But considering the Church's historical denial of its Jewish roots, I wouldn't be surprised if the use of Yahweh, as well as other more Jewish names and terms, were removed on purpose. Why can't we return to our roots, and return to the truth, by bringing the name of our God back into the Church today?
What word is translated as Lord in the New Testament? For the Greek word kurios, the word Lord would be an acceptable translation. But as I noted earlier, Lord is an archaic word that is scarcely used today. A better, and more modern translation would be Master. I urge you to try it. When I first used it in prayer, I felt an immediate sense of humility, as a servant or slave before my God, my Master. My experience leads me to believe that Lord has lost too much of its meaning as a word. It seems little more than a casual nickname. Many Church leaders say that the Church needs to accept the "Lordship of Christ". I think the use of the word Lord is itself a contributing factor to this problem. We're using a word that is practically obsolete.