It’s Time to Start Being Responsible

"One day all humanity is going to have to accept personal responsibility before God. Every person will stand before Him to give an account for their lives."

Were you one that got up for school when you were told or did you just lay there as long as possible? What about when it came to picking up toys? Did you easily comply with picking them up, or did you pretend like you did not hear? How about brushing your teeth, did regularly brushing come easy, or did you fight doing it every morning and evening? (Image from istock)

These are all small lessons of responsibility for young children. If boys and girls are taught responsibility in their early years, through the influence of their parents or grandparents, then they will be responsible adults. If a dad can teach his little boy to be responsible to make his bed on his own, then one day he will grow up to be responsible with more important things; like his money. If a mom can instruct her young daughter to be responsible in doing her homework, then one day she will grow up to be responsible with more important things; like the direction of her life. If small children are taught responsibility in the small things, then they will grow up to be responsible in the bigger and more important things.

Left to themselves, irresponsibility is normal for all children. That is why it requires the intentional and persistent effort to build responsibility into the child at home. The Bible offers this insight, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.” (1 Corinthians 13:11) What is one childish way? Irresponsibility. Consequently, the sign of adulthood is taking responsibility.

But what if a child was never taught this? Then he or she is likely to grow up and become a reckless, ungrateful and disobedient man or woman. They grow up to become their own worst enemy.

There was once a story of a man like this. His name was Jonah and God told him, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” (Jonah 1:2) But Jonah had a strong will and resisted God, so he “rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.” (Jon. 1:3) Instead of Jonah accepting the responsibility and going, he became irresponsible and ran. As a result, he put his life and the lives of others in great danger. Finally, at his lowest point he came to his senses and said, “When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.” (Jon. 2:7) Eventually, God’s patience taught Jonah responsibility, where he accepted God’s call and went to Nineveh where tens of thousands of lives where changed.

One day, like Jonah, all humanity is going to have to accept personal responsibility before God. Every person will stand before Him to give an account for their lives, and there will be no excuses or blaming others. God says, “The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son.” (Ezekiel 18:20) This means, we will all answer before God individually; not as a couple, a family or church, but one on one with the Creator God. Therefore, the guilt of our parents or others, will have no bearing on us before Him. Yes, others influence us, but ultimately, we are the ones who are responsible or irresponsible in the choices we make. It rests at our feet alone.

A prayer for you – Lord God, I pray that people will raise up to take personal responsibility for their lives and eternal souls. Bring them to see the urgency of ordering their lives after the ways of God and to take responsible steps to do that today, beginning with placing their simple faith in you. In Jesus name. Amen.

How to Speak Words of Life

"And what are words of life?  They are conversations that build others up, instead of tearing them down."

When you scroll through your social media, do the words and videos you see build you up or tear you down? When you read or watch the latest news in what is happening, does it encourage or discourage you? During the last conversation you had with someone, did it strengthen or weaken you? (Image from Coachrye.com)

Let me ask, “What are our words supposed to do for others?

Look at what God has to say, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” (Ephesians 4:29) Whether we are posting something online, messaging someone, or communicating with a pastor, parent or friend; religious or not, this is God’s standard for us all. We are to speak words of life.

 

And what are words of life? They are conversations that build others up, instead of tearing them down. They are text messages that encourage rather than discourage. They are calls that strengthen instead of weaken our family and friends.

 

What are NOT words of life? Flattery. Meaning, when you say or post positive things about others, with an agenda. In other words, you want something from them. It is the same about manipulative words, where things are said to get what you want. Flattery and manipulation are not words of life.

 

Where do our words come from? Jesus said, “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart…” (Matthew 15:18) The things we say come from inside us. If we give words of love, truth and blessing to others – it comes from within. If we spew out curse words, name-calling and hateful language – it too comes from within. The words we speak, truly reveal what is deep inside of us all. 

 

What do these words of life look like?

 

When a father was nearing death, he brought near his sons to speak future truth and blessing over them. Jacob spoke to one of his sons, Joseph, saying “The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents, up to the bounties of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph…” (Genesis 49:26) These are impactful words of life spoken from a father to a son that would be remembered for the rest of Joseph’s days.

 

In a different situation, there was a king that secretly abused his power through an adulterous affair, and then murdered the woman’s husband. However, God saw it and dispatched Nathan the prophet to King David. For approximately one-year, the king’s actions had remained secret--until Nathan showed up. Then he declared to King David, “Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight?” (2 Samuel 12:9) These too are impactful words of life. How so? Because it exposed the treacherous actions of David, and gave him an opportunity to admit his failure, turn from it and seek the forgiveness of Almighty God. And because of that, he was able to live again.

 

Sometimes words of life come in the form of blessing and encouragement, while other times they take the form of rebuke and correction. In the end, they both seek to produce the same affect – life.

 

Our Creator desires all of us to speak words of life to one another. Yet, it is difficult because our natural tendency is to tear down. How can we change our ways and no longer use our lips to destroy, but build up?

 

The first step is admitting that we have fallen short. The second step is calling upon the one who created our lips, to transform us. This is why Jesus came to die and rise again, that we might be made new.    

 

A prayer for you – Lord God, we admit how we have used our words to tear down. We no longer want to use our words to do such things. From this day forward, by your power, we want o speak life toward others. Cleanse our lips and change us O God. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

How to Love Others Perfectly

“Our natural-born form of love is corrupted. It seeks to fulfill our personal desires and lusts, where we put ourselves above others. But there is a perfect love, which comes from our Creator, who can pour that love within us.” 

Do you love yourself? Does that sound odd? Let me ask it this way. When you are hungry, do you find something to eat? When you are thirsty, do you find something to drink? When you are injured, do you find a way to treat yourself? What about when you are tired, lonely or in financial need? Whenever you have needs and care for yourself like this, it is called loving yourself. (Image by Leroy Skalstad from Pixabay)

Read this statement Jesus made, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:40). He made this a universal standard that all people are to live up to. Sometimes we call it, The Golden Rule, which means we are to treat others, the way we would want to be treated. This means when someone is without food, we help feed them, as if we were the ones without food. And the same with any other need. We come alongside our neighbor to help them, just as if we were taking care of ourselves.

Who is our neighbor? A man once asked Jesus the same question and He gave a story to help him understand. He told about a man who had been traveling, and was robbed and beaten, then left for dead alongside the road. A couple people came by, and walked right on past the near-dead traveler. Then a third person stopped to help and got him the care he needed. In the story, Jesus reveals how the good Samaritan who assisted was a different race and religion than the traveler. He also reveals how the man in need was in such poor condition, he could not help himself. The beaten traveler required help from others to survive.

We are to love everyone, especially those neighbors who are different from us. Like people with a different skin color, religion or no religion, different values or habits, and the list could go on. Our neighbors are also those who cannot help themselves. They may have some needs they cannot meet themselves. And our neighbors are those who have mistreated us. For we do not withhold love from those who have hurt us, but we show them love by God’s power. 

Read Jesus’ full comment about loving one’s neighbor, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt. 22:37-40)  

What does Jesus mean that everything depends on these commandments? 

The Bible is filled with all sorts of moral commands; things we are to do and not to do. And they all affect other people. Therefore, the only way we can meet God’s standard and properly treat others, is if we are controlled by heaven’s love. Instead of just feeding ourselves, in love we also feed our neighbor who is in need. Rather than lying to our neighbor to protect ourselves, in love we tell the truth. Instead of using our home just for ourselves, we invite others to enjoy it also. This is perfect love, and no one can have this kind of love naturally. 

For our natural-born form of love is corrupted. It seeks to fulfill our personal desires and lusts, where we put ourselves above others. But perfect love, comes not from us, but from our Creator. When we learn the first commandment, loving God with all our heart, soul and mind, then we discover how to perfectly love others. 

How can we get this kind of love? Only through Christ. He died and rose again to change us, that we might have His perfect love poured into us.         

A prayer for you – Lord God, we humble ourselves before you and ask that you would fill our hearts with your perfect love. We admit we have failed and fallen short in how we have treated you and others. Change us, O God. Through your love, make us new people. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

What’s On Your Love List?

“In order to bear the name Christian, there’s a condition. God requires your complete devotion. There can be no higher love.”

Love. It is a much-used word. We love our family. We love our friends. We love our hobbies; like fishing, hunting, golf, wood-working. We love our things; like cars, trucks, homes, cell phones, tablets. We love our food. We love our sports teams. We love our work. We love our learning. And some of us maybe even love our bodies; our smile, eyes or maybe even our six-pack abs (buried under lots of skin of course). (Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash)

And how do we demonstrate that love? The commitment or devotion we show to those things through the time we give to them, the money we spend, how much we talk about them, the sacrifices we make.

Now all these “loves” surround us. We love OUR family, OUR friends, OUR hobbies. Perhaps we could call it OUR love list. Notice though, I have left one important person out – God.

Let me bring Jesus in on this. There was once a religious lawyer, an expert in Old Testament Jewish law that asked Jesus a question, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25) Put another way, it could be asked, “What must I do to receive the forgiveness of sins?

Since the lawyer was the expert, Jesus asked him to answer the question, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” (Lk. 10:26) Then the lawyer responded with an Old Testament quotation about loving God, “And he answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’ And [Jesus] said to him, ‘You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.’” (Luke 10:27-28) 

In your list of things you love, is God on there? And why is that important? Because your life depends on it! Let me explain. 

Notice the lawyer’s question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Then observe Jesus’ response to the lawyer’s answer, “do this, and you will live.” So if he chose to love God, then he would receive the gift of eternal life, which means if the lawyer refused, he would be condemned to the opposite; eternal death. The implications of loving God are massive for every single one of us.   

Now what is eternal life? After a person turns from their disobedient ways and to Jesus by faith, then he instantaneously receives the indwelling invisible Spirit of Christ within him. This is what gives him eternal life, the life of Jesus. 

According to what Jesus said, this gift is dependent on loving God with all one’s heart, soul, strength and mind, and loving your neighbor as yourself. What is Jesus communicating? Full commitment, total loyalty and maximum devotion to God through His beloved Son.  

There was once a wealthy young man that was drawn to Jesus, and asked a similar question like the lawyer. Jesus told the man that if he wanted to follow Him, then he must sell all his possessions and give them to the poor. The man could not part with his wealth, so he dejectedly walked away from Jesus. The man loved his wealth more than His Creator.

In order to bear the name “Christian” and receive the everlasting life of Jesus within you; there is a condition. He requires your complete devotion. There can be no higher love. Why? Because when He initiated a covenant relationship for you to enter into with Him, it required His greatest commitment; the sacrifice of His deeply loved Son. In similar fashion, for you to receive all the blessings He wants to bestow on you, you must love Him above all else. Will you love Him today?   

A prayer for you – Lord God, I praise you for how you have shown your love for all mankind through the death and resurrection of Jesus. What love! Now you call us to love you in return, which you are most worthy of. Examine our ways. Point out if there is anything we love greater than you, that we would yield it to you this hour. In Jesus’ name. Amen.