Responsibilities

 

Here’s a controversial topic: personal responsibility.

This is a subject that divides a lot of conversations, from politics to religion to household chores and beyond.

Of course, I’m going to veer into the spiritual side of things, hopefully it’s what you’ve come to expect from me.

Where does my responsibility to God begin and end versus where God’s begin and end? (Hint: His load is greater.)

 

I used to think it was my responsibility to work my way into Heaven; to earn my place there – to be good enough to “get in”. But after reading that my own personal righteousness (and yours) is as filthy rags to God (and let me emphasis that by filthy rags, I mean used menstrual cloths. There’s a phrase I didn’t imagine using in a blog post).

If all I could do to earn entry to the heavenly realm was as impressive as that kind of filthy rag, I knew I needed to find another way, if one could be found. Otherwise, that meant that Heaven was out of reach for all of us.

(from reddit)

There are plenty of verses in the Old Testament that point to our Salvation, but He hadn’t shown up on the scene in the flesh, just yet. The need for a redeemer – a Messiah, was explicitly shown to the people of the Old Testament and there are plenty of prophecies regarding the coming Christ.

The New Testament tells the story of that coming Savior and spells out the details of what was necessary from this Man, the Son of God Himself and His needed sacrifice to redeem us from sin and reunite us to Him – and His Father. These scriptures also reveal that salvation is not an end to the story of our need, but the beginning. Once we begin to live in the reality of the Cross, God fills us with His own Spirit. We become one with Him! The rest of the story is joyful adventures, even in the worst of situations. He is always with us, promising to never leave us alone.

(from choosethisday .com)

Jesus’s responsibility was to provide the way for us to become one with Him and He CHOSE to do that. He created us, knowing well the responsibility He endowed us with when He gave us the right to choose our own destiny. He trusted us to choose wisely, knowing we would fail. He CHOSE to take on the responsibility of making right our wrongs.

He’s completed His part of the arrangement, having done all that was required of Him. The punishment for our sin was death (separation from His Father). He took that upon Himself so we wouldn’t have to suffer it. He, Himself paid our penalty. In His last breath on the Cross, He stated that, “It is finished.” The work on the Cross to redeem us had been completed. We cannot add to it.

(from etsy)

Now, it is simply our responsibility to believe.

I say “simply” - because He even made that possible by planting within us the faith it will take to believe in Him. To us is given the measure of faith as a gift. We are allowed to CHOOSE what we’ll do with that deposit of faith.

When we accept His sacrifice for our sin and ask Him to forgive us, we become one with Him. We’re guaranteed Heaven, but we also get to live life in this world filled with His Spirit and with complete joy (which is our strength).

 

Our next responsibility is to share the love and freedom we’ve found, to rescue the lost, not condemn them.

It’s been said that the sin of the desert is to know where the water is and tell no one.

Once we acknowledge our need for a Savior, and allow God to forgive us, He can begin the wonderful work of healing us and delivering us from everything that’s held us captive, empowering us to live for Him, sharing His love with everyone around us. Once we allow Him to love us the way He wants to, we’ll want everyone to experience the freedom and grace and mercy we have.

(from instagram)

“God in Heaven, I recognize my need for a savior. I choose You, Jesus. The world has only trapped me more each day. I turn away from sin and into You. Forgive me and accept me as I am and wash me clean, like Your Word promises You’ll do. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit and with Your power so that I can edify Your body here on earth and lead others out of captivity. Instruct me by Your Word and lead me by Your Spirit, in Jesus’s Name. Amen.”

If you’d like scripture references for anything I say, just ask!

Outrageous Forgiveness; Unfathomable Love

(gracfs.com)

When I’m listening to a sermon and realize that, again, the pastor is teaching about forgiveness, I’ll admit, there’s a part of me that wants to get up and leave.

But has God ever wasted His time or mine? No.

I know I need to reexamine my heart one more time, each time the topic comes up.

We may hide behind the words ‘unable to forgive’. But God’s Word makes it clear that forgiveness is a choice. He CHOSE to forgive us and expects us to do the same, because along with His outrageous forgiveness comes His unfathomable love.

Again, I read the story of the king who forgave a huge amount of money, the sum of which the debtor could in no way repay. The story is shared by Jesus, Himself. Here’s a link to the story: Matthew 18:23-35

Why would anyone allow a man to amass such great debt that they would never be able to repay it, and then forgive it?

Also, why would a man forgiven of such a great debt hold a small debt against someone else?

Knowing this story points us to God’s great love for us which gives us freedom to choose to turn away from Him.

(clip-artlibrary.com)

To whom do I owe a debt? The bank. Yes, we chose to buy a house. And yes, we’re still paying that mortgage. Thank God, it’s our only financial debt. Though I have heard of it happening, I don’t expect my bank to suddenly announce that my debt has been paid by someone else, or that out of the kindness of their hearts they’ve decided to write off what we owe them.

Yet, I owed a bigger debt, a spiritual debt that I could never pay: I chose to sin.

According to the Bible, the only acceptable payment for any sin is death. “For the wages of sin is death…” - Romans 6:23

That means I would have to die and be separated from God forever to pay for the smallest of the sins I’ve committed. God doesn’t weigh sins as little white lies and big black marks. All sin hurts Him. James 2:10 tells says, “whosoever shall keep the whole law, but yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”

So, we owe God payment with our lives if we’ve ever sinned at all.

Good news! Romans 6:23 (mentioned above) goes on to say that because God loves us, “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

“God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not die, but have everlasting life.” – John 3:16

So, this answers the first question; the king, Our King, allows us to choose to sin, and chose to forgive us our unsurmountable debt, because He loves us. Jesus chose to die in our place, as payment for our sins.

(clipartkid.com)

But question number two. Why would one who’s been forgiven such a great debt, a debt that could only be paid by dying and being separated from God for all of eternity – withhold forgiveness from someone else?

Because it hurts. When someone wrongs us, our humanity wants to hold it against them, to hurt them back.

God tells us that this isn’t His way of doing things. He IS love. When He’s forgiven our debt, He (Love) lives inside us, and we need to do things His way, not because of rules, but out of His love.

To not forgive is selfish, it puts our hurt feelings (mind and body) up there as more important that God.

To forgive does NOT mean that what the person did was not wrong. It was wrong.

Jesus DID NOT say that what we did was not sin or became acceptable. It was sin. He gave His life as payment FOR our sin. 

He DID say that the penalty was paid in full. (See Hebrews 7:27, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 9:28)

It grieves my heart when someone says, “I’ll never forgive them…” denying themselves freedom from the hurt.

Mostly, because it indicates that they’ve not accepted God’s forgiveness for their own sins.

But also because Mark 11:24-26 says, “Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

(christianpost.com)

What If It's Your Choice?

 

(photo from streetworkoutstkilda .com)

What if there’s something worse than slavery?

What if physical slavery and torture are merely images of what God is calling us out of?

What if there’s something far worse, from which He’s trying to protect us? And what if that something is there because of our freedom of choice? We have the freedom to choose - every second of everyday.

What if when we choose anything other than God’s perfect will for our lives, it leads us into trouble?

What if in choosing, the bottom line is choosing who our master will be? The human soul wants freedom. But, freedom from what? Or from whom?

What if being a slave to sin is worse than servitude or being owned and/or being abused by another person?

With our physical eyes, we can see the horrors of slavery in history, or around us in the flesh. We may see it in the news, or be subjected to it in some way in our daily lives.

But it will take spiritual eyes to see the spirit realm; to see the unimaginable horrors of the results of slavery to sin.

When we submit ourselves to God and willingly place ourselves under His authority, He opens our spiritual eyes. 

He said to the apostle Paul, “I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’” – Acts 26:17-19 NKJV Also see: Numbers 22:31, 2 Kings 6:16-18)

(picture from yourpointofpride .com)

When Dave is watching a war documentary or movie that shows torture and prison camps, I have to close my eyes or leave the room. I can’t stand the horror of man’s treatment of man. How much worse is the horror of Satan’s treatment of man? Honestly, I don’t want to see it. But, until we see the ugliness and horror of Satan, we don’t really know the meaning of the word enemy. And we won’t realize what we’re actually being rescued from.

By looking back through history and looking around us, we can see horrors no man should know; horror we were not created to endure. By looking at the corruption of the world around us, we can see a glimpse of what sin promises us. Satan has no rewards for anyone in hell, only torment. He hates all of us, even those who boast of serving him. They are submitted to his authority, but there will be no rewards for allegiance to him, only laughter and mocking, unfathomable grief and torture. He hates mankind with a hatred we can’t even comprehend. You’re on the receiving end of that hatred simply because you’re human.

God’s plan is to rescue us from that hatred. But, will you be rescued? He leaves the choice to you. You have the freedom and the responsibility to choose whether or not to be rescued.

(picture from coralspringstalk .com)

The “default choice” is death. We have to want to be rescued. We have to choose to reach out and take hold of the already outstretched hand of our only Savior. Jesus already paid the price to get us out of the punishment for sin, He paid that price while we were/are stuck in sin’s grip. (“But God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8 KJV)

The freedom we’re so desperately looking for is found in Jesus Christ. Freedom is not found in the notion that there is no God to be accountable to.

When we belong to and submit ourselves to God and become a part of His family, His kingdom – we have true freedom.

You may ask, “Aren’t we all children of God?” Well, actually, no.

In scripture, Jesus Himself tells certain individuals that their father is the devil. (You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. -John 8:44 NKJV)

Ouch!

We have to CHOOSE to be a part of the family of God; the body of Christ. Not only do we HAVE to choose, we GET to choose! And with that decision, comes the power and authority Jesus gave to each believer. But, power and authority do us no good until we recognize it and take hold of it and own it, and use it!

(photo from hotelspeak .com)

I like this quote, and the emphasis is mine. “Nothing has more impact to shift our minds and lives more than KNOWING who we are and the power and authority we have been given.” – Jennie Allen, Get Out of Your Head

So, what if – the choice is really yours? It’s not a decision to be taken lightly, nor is it a decision to be put off. Ponder it today. Ask questions! Talk to people. Talk to God, Himself. He’s always listening and eager to share with you. Because, it IS your choice. You alone will be responsible for the outcome.

“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore, you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” – Galatians 4:4-7 NKJV

(picture from clipartkid .com)

Your Best You

 

(youchoose.or.au)

Disappointment and sadness come into our worlds on a regular basis. Yet some of the faces around us seem to smile all the time. Why?

Amid other speculations, perhaps we’re seeing a mask, to disguise the sorrow they’re going through. Maybe, we’re looking at someone who doesn’t understand the ramifications of the news they’ve just received. Or perhaps, they choose joy.

Is it possible to receive devasting news and allow a smile to rise up in your heart? While we may often need to release our feelings through tears or angry outbursts, I believe it’s a choice whether or not to surrender to joy. It’s one of the choices we regularly make.

You cannot force joy, it comes new every morning, along with the mercies of God. By the way, joy and happiness are not the same thing. Joy gives your strength even when you’re not happy.

Ponder this: the God of the universe created you and knows you better than you know yourself. He knows your thoughts before you think them, and yes, He knows what lies ahead of you and how you’ll respond to Him each day. He knows your weaknesses and your limitations. He also knows what you’re capable of, and He trusts you to reach for the best version of you. Not just the best version of you that YOU can imagine, but the one He created when He knit you together in your mother’s womb; the best that you can be, each day.

That would require incredible strength.

Along with those incredible expectations, God provides that great strength.

Instead of responding to negative circumstances with tears of sorrow or wrestling with frustrations or outbursts of anger, what if we responded to God? Let me say that backwards. What if we respond to God - instead of to our circumstances?

God is within our circumstances; He also surrounds us in the midst of them.

God is the one constant in our lives. Circumstances change. The people who surround us change, and the ones who travel with us through life sometimes change how they interact with us.

God’s love for us never changes. He’s always within reach. He always provides what we need, when we need it. Even when to our human heart it may feel like He hasn’t shown up yet, He’s here, working with us, in us and through us. He has not left us, and He promises He never will. (Hebrews 13:5)

What we need and when we need it may look quite different from God’s heavenly perspective. We can’t see the big picture like He does; we’re still on this side of eternity. We sometimes feel like God doesn’t hear or answer our prayers when we’re only looking at the situation from our puny human perspective.

Don’t limit God. Don’t tie His hands by turning from Him, pouting and going your own way. He IS the Way, the Truth and the Light. He’s seen your future since before the foundations of the earth were laid. Trust Him. Choose joy in the midst of what you don’t understand.

To scripturally recap:

“The joy of the Lord is your strength.” - Nehemiah 8:10

“Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not of your own understanding.”  – Proverbs 3:5 

I Doubt It

(cbn.com)

Sometimes I get a little pitiful. Just a few minutes ago, my phone rang. I heard it, but I couldn’t see it. I knew where it was supposed to be. I thought I’d plugged it in to charge, but it wasn’t there on the counter by the plug. I spun around in circles, listening for it, I didn’t get any closer to or further from the ringing. Times like this I get so frustrated with myself. How can I lose something while using it? Or having just used it? How can I not find my phone? It’s never that far from me! It makes me doubt my own sanity. I’ve been sitting here at my kitchen table, writing a letter and lost the pen I was writing with! How can this be? No. There are no roaming ghosts in my house. The only ghost here is the Holy Ghost. Sometimes I find my pen, sometimes I never do. But, my phone? I need my phone. I can always go to the drawer and grab another pen, but I only have one phone. Where was it, you ask? In my pocket. I hope you’re laughing at me, too, because I am.

I’ve also done ditzy things like apply a wet, hot washcloth to my face – without taking my glasses off first. Who does this?

No, I don’t have dementia. I’m not going crazy. But, it goes to show you how simple things can cause us to doubt ourselves. They can cause us to stop trusting our own judgement.

(faithdisrupted.com)

It’s just as easy to doubt God. Crazy, I know. But, true. We look at something simple in the flesh and we don’t make the spiritual connection and we begin to question whether God knows what He’s doing.

We often ask, why does God allow bad things to happen to good people. Wasn’t there a book with that title?

If I can’t find the phone in my own pocket, or the glasses on my own head, how can I seriously believe I understand every little thing about how God moves in our lives? How can I think I fully understand the Word of God when the pen I was just writing with has completely disappeared and I have no earthly explanation for where it’s gone?

Yet, there are many who toss aside their Bibles, muttering to themselves, “I’ve read this, it doesn’t help.” I have friends who have given up on the power of prayer because they’ve prayed and didn’t see their answers manifest according the instructions they’d given to God. Reading the Bible and knowing God are not the same thing.

(phillyvoice.com)

I’m not saying God is too complex to understand, but I don’t think I know anyone who will gather a complete understanding of Who He is before they leave this world. Our understanding is finite. God is infinite.

My neighbor and I were just talking about Peter walking on the water to Jesus. He did great, as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus. The minute he looked at the waves blowing up around him, he sunk into the water. Immediately, Jesus reached out and grabbed his hand. How far out did he walk? Watching the waves and paying attention to the wind caused him to doubt what Jesus had just said to him.

In that same way, when we listen to a diagnosis, or feel pain in our bodies, it’s just as easy to take our eyes off Jesus; to doubt what He’s promised us in His Word.

What are some examples of what you see around you that causes unbelief to stir up inside of you? What situations make it easy for doubt to raise its ugly head and sneer at you?

If we can doubt ourselves and each other, how can we not take into account that we doubt God? Yes, we’re the ones doing the doubting. God’s existence and love for us isn’t in question.

It’s not God that’s failing us. It’s us that fail to believe in God. It’s us who doubt. It’s us who turn away too quickly, who give up before we triumph, sometimes even turning to pity or bitterness.

We may insist we believe in God. But, in effect, most of us merely believe in a higher power, an anonymous, shapeless, unidentifiable, helpless entity, who does nothing at all for mankind. That’s not believing in God.

(crosswalk.com)

Is it easier to believe that God won’t help us than it is to believe He does?

I know that I know that I know that my God is intimately involved in every single aspect of my life, even the parts I don’t understand, myself.

My lack of understanding doesn’t negate the God of the universe.

When our lack of understanding rises to that level, we’ve made ourselves into our own god, and we’ve failed ourselves.

It’s time to get back to our first love. It’s time to get back to the basics of God’s Word, to nourish ourselves with the milk of the word, since we’ve begun to choke on the meat.

Repent. Do you now what it means? It simply means to turn around. When we recognize we’re messing up doubting or going the wrong way completely – it’s as simple as turning around.

Jesus said, “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” – Mark 11:23

Not addressing what “this mountain” might be right now, just pondering how much we doubt…..

(luxecoliving.com)

Can You Choose?

(photo courtesy of freegoldwatch.com)

God wants you to choose. 

I want you to choose.

However, you need to know what you’re choosing between. You not only need to know you have options, but you need to be informed about what those options are.  When one side or opinion seeks to quench the voice of opposing views and opinions and beliefs, an unsafe, unfair situation arises where not only our voice, but out choice disappears.

We read in Joshua 24:14-15 (KJV), “Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord.

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua made the choice clear before all the people. He didn’t ignore the fact that the people had served other gods. Though he gave them a choice that would give them abundant life, he didn’t insist that his God was their only option.

We put ourselves in the role of God when we determine that which the choices of others will consist. Ironic, when the people who insist on determining our choices often deny there is a God.

God Himself encourages us to choose life – but allows us to choose death. “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:” - Deuteronomy 30:19 (KJV)

When Creationism isn’t allowed to be taught in school, but Darwinism is forced down children’s throats as absolute reality, when in fact, it’s a theory that’s never been proven – choice is destroyed. The only ‘reality’ being taught, is one that’s taught forcefully.

When abstinence isn’t allowed to be taught in school, but deviant sexual acts and extreme forms of birth control are blatantly plastered before the face of every student attending said school, again, choice is destroyed.

You cannot choose between options when options are denied.

Informed choice ensures freedom, the very foundation of our nation.

There are many other choices and freedoms being taken from us or threatened here in America and across the globe.

Logically speaking, we won’t all make the same choices.

Find your voice – and let it be heard.

Don’t deny other’s their voice.