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!

Steppin' on My Own Toes

(picture from pinterest.com)

As a Christian, you’re God’s messenger. What’s your message? What message does your life convey to the world around you?

Is it fair to judge you by the actions of your children?

Is it fair to judge God by the actions of His?

Is it fair for the world to judge God by my actions? Yours?

Since when is life “fair”?

Clearly, the world doesn’t understand the love of God. Could that be, at least, in part, my fault? Your fault?

(picture from dustoffthebible.com)

I recall a quote by Mahatma Gandhi, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Ouch! It stings because it’s so true.

What’s one small thing we can do today to begin to turn this around?

What’s one small thing you can do today, to being to turn this around?

(picture from twitter.com)

Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” – John 13:34-35 (NIV)

January is often thought of as a month for new beginnings, a month for starting over, a month for self-reflection.

God is the God of new beginnings and He’s wildly famous for His grace that supplies endless second chances, and He’s the source of the power that raised Jesus from the dead, so when surveying our lives and habits and shortcomings, we can draw upon that same power to raise us from our slumber, from our negligence, from our lack of sharing His love.

(picture from pinterest.com)

If we call ourselves Christians, the people around us are looking at us for a demonstration of God’s love. Let’s try a little harder not to let them down.

Like the world, we’re often afraid to extend unconditional love to those around us. But, we’re instructed to not be like the world.

John 14:27 says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

John 15:19 says, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”

2 Corinthians 10:3-6 explains, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they [our weapons] have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

(picture from twitter.com)

This makes it clear, we’re not to operate as the world operates. We are to love as Jesus loves us.

I’ll conclude with the words of Jesus, Himself when asked what is His greatest command.

“Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” – Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV)

Big Girl Panties

(photo from vidavitality.com)

“Put on your big girl panties and deal with it,” says one friend to another. To many of us, it simply means to suck it up and get on with life. That’s not always easy to do; life throws a lot of hard things our way, sometimes in quick succession. But, to quote a lovely lady, “Yeah, I gotta invest in some of those, might come in handy….”

This lovely lady is a perfect stranger to me. I call her perfect because she’s perfectly the kind of woman I’d love to be friends with. I mean, with how many strangers can you bring up the topic of underwear and not immediately lose the conversation?

We tossed around the idea of writing a book on the topic together, all because of an ad I placed to sell a party dress for my daughter-in-law. We even came up with some clever titles: The Power of Ugly Underpants and The Trouble With Sexy Underwear.

When I pointed out that big girl panties aren’t pretty, she said, “It’s not the appearance, rather the power. And power sometimes comes in the form of big, plain, white ugly undies.”

Now, if she decides to read this blog post and chooses to reveal herself, she’s more than welcome to do that. But, in case she doesn’t want all my readers to know she freely converses with strangers in such a powerful manner, I won’t tell you her name.

Our conversation got me pondering, though.

I don’t suppose “big girl panties” have to be the kind you imagine your great-grandmother wearing. (I have to add in that “great” since I’m a grandmother, myself, and I don’t intend to discuss what my undies look like.)

But, maybe the symbolic nature of the big, plain white, ugly underwear says something in itself.

Maybe it says that life doesn’t always have ruffles or frills, often we might even feel that life isn’t fun at all. And life definitely isn’t always about being sexy.

At some point in life, unlike our dear friend Peter Pan, we need to grow up. Does that mean we reach a point when life becomes dull and boring and stays that way? No way! Keep in mind, we change our undergarments daily. Some days are more frivolous than others. But, as grownups, we become responsible for the actions we take, frivolous or serious; our mistakes and shortcomings, as well as our accomplishments and steps forward.

Wearing our big girl panties implies we’re not going to let life become meaningless and pointless, because we have the right to say it’s meaningful and to declare that we have purpose, despite the set-backs, and live like we mean it. God created us in His image; we have strength and courage we haven’t even tapped into yet.

When was the last time you felt powerless? Maybe we need to keep a big ol’ pair of granny panties in the back of our drawer (or in our glove box) as a reminder of just how powerful we really are. Can we be powerful in a skimpy thong? You betcha! I’m just pondering the finer points of the phrase!

Sometimes getting lost is the only way to find a new path home. Sometimes extreme disappointments or losses reveal the paradigm we’ve been trapped in and can show us the way out.

Though the Bible doesn’t literally say it, we’ve all trudged through hard times remembering, “This too shall pass…”

No matter how tough life looks, remember the words of the Psalmist: “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.” – Psalm 118:17 (KJV)

Oh, yeah - this is more like it!

 

(picture from limitlessliving.ca)