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!

One Big Step

 

(from homedepot .com)

Have you seen those baskets designed to be placed at the top or bottom of your stairs? They’re pretty clever and helpful to those of us who suffer from problems with forgetfulness. I no longer have any of these baskets. But, placed on the bottom step, you drop things in it to “remember to take upstairs when you make the trip…” And placed at the top step to easily take the contents downstairs. In theory, it should work. Unless, like me, you forget to grab the basket – SITTING THERE IN PLAIN SIGHT – and think of it when you’re already upstairs without the items you meant to bring up with you.

How often do we find ourselves lying in our bed at night, thinking [always thinking] of the concerns of the day? The very same things we knew we should turn over to God but didn’t. Maybe we started to, we “put them in the basket” but didn’t get around to taking the basket upstairs and handing it over to God. Maybe we didn’t even get around to dropping them in the basket! Perhaps we simply stuffed them in the pocket of our mind thinking we’d drop them in the basket the next time we passed by.

(from Amazon .com)

And there we are, lying there in bed when the rest of the house is quiet, and our mind is outrageously noisy.

Remembering to take my books upstairs or to bring my teacup from last night down the stairs is one thing. But taking the troubles of the day, or even worse, the troubles of tomorrow to bed with me can bring no good. They cause my mattress to feel lumpy and my pillow to look flat and the room temperature to seem too hot or too cold. Trouble begets trouble.

Tossing and turning as the troubles roll over in my mind never brings solutions. Surely if it did, I’d forget that solution before my first dream was over.

There is a perfect place for those troubles, in the safe keeping of our Lord. Yet we either forget to drop them there, or we put off doing so. We somehow instantly get busier and other concerns get in our way and we don’t notice until bedtime.

Sometimes, we’re even hesitant to leave them there because secretly, we’re afraid He won’t do anything constructive with them. In that case, it’s simply that we don’t trust Him.

Admitting that can be hard. We WANT to trust Him. We know that He’s trustworthy. Yet we hold back. Giving these troubles or burdens to God immediately will go a long way in helping us to sleep better every night.

(from Amazon .com)

We have stepdaughters, stepfathers, and step stools, so maybe it’s time to grab a step-basket, in our minds if nowhere else.

Then, of course, remember to use it and use it quickly!

The more quickly we give our troubles to God, the more likely we’ll see what He does with them, which will help us to trust Him better with each next burden.

Building trust is key.

When we give our trust too freely, too quickly, we’re often disappointed and lose that trust. Watching what someone does with the things we entrust to them, whether secrets or possessions, we learn whether we can truly trust them or not.

Your step-basket may look more like a journal. If you’re like me, you have more notebooks and journals than you’ll admit to, and the one you need is never handy. So, I’ve begun taking notes on the notepad app on my phone. Try it!

Write down your troubles the moment they come to mind and hand them over to God quickly, where they can be dealt with best! If you’re “too busy” which, let’s face it, we all are from time to time, keep that journal on your bedstand. Better to give it to God quickly but later is better than never. Eventually you can read back over that journal and see all the wonderful things God did with your “problems”.

(from Pinterest .com)

Do you have a story for me about giving something to God quickly vs not giving it to Him at all?