Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Matters of Responsibility and Light Shining

What's wrong with the world?

How many times a day do you ask that?

What is wrong with us?

I have an answer.

We have a problem with responsibility.
We like to blame.
We like to finger point.
We like to bicker.
We like to complain and cry about what someone else is or isn't doing.

The problem is not with someone else's responsibility or lack thereof;
The problem is with SELF (personal) responsibility.

When things happen in your life, take a minute and assess the decisions that you made.
Say, "Self, how did I contribute to this?" or "Self, what should I have done differently?" And then own up to the fact that you probably could have done something a little differently.

***As a general disclaimer, this isn't applicable in every situation. I do understand.
The people who were shot this weekend couldn't have done anything different. Some circumstances are beyond our control without a doubt. Kids that grow up in bad situations can't control their environment. People can't control health issues, etc. I am not talking about those kinds of situations here so we don't need to discuss the obvious.***

Now that's out of the way, I shall proceed:

Let me tell you something that you don't want to hear:
It ain't your momma's fault.
It ain't your daddy's fault.
It ain't the school's fault.
It ain't the preacher's fault.
It ain't the president's fault.
It absolutely isn't the dog's fault. (What IS that smell?)
It wasn't the gun's fault, the hotel's fault, the political affiliation's fault nor was it God's fault.

When a shooter pulls a trigger it is THEIR VERY OWN fault.
When you tattoo your face and can't get a job, it is YOUR fault.
When you are running from the police and something bad happens, it is YOUR fault.
When someone leaves the gate open...well, that is always someone else's fault. Always.
When evil and hate rear their ugly head, it is MY FAULT.

Wait. Huh? What she say?

I'm going to take a minute to address the Christians in the house. I'm gonna call them out. If what I say doesn't bother you, you must be doing it all right. If it steps on your toes, GOOD, God has been kicking me in the knees about it and you need to join this fun.

Y'all, we have been failing for generations. We have been slipping. We have compromised our values, shifted our focus, and got flat out lazy.

I'm not even talking about hot button issues. I am talking about how we have let ourselves be IN this world and not OF it. We turn a blind eye to evil. We welcome hate. We have been watching the systematic decline of God in our lives without blinking an eye. And guess what we say, "Ooohhh girl, look at her. She needs Jesus. Whew. Does she ever. I'm glad I don't have any flaws like that! My sins aren't as bad as hers."

If you are a Christian, you believe that Jesus came to this Earth, lived a sinless life, died a painful and humiliating death all so that you can have an eternity with Him. And knowing all of that, you have willingly opened your hand and let His presence slip through your fingers. And by you, I mean me. I fail daily.

God tells us that the world hated Him, so it is going to hate you (John 15:18) why wouldn't it?
He tells us the world doesn't understand His light. (John 1:5)
God says in John 16:33 that the world will suck, but never fear, He's taken care of it.

I really enjoy the book of John in case you didn't notice.

I'll take the liberty of linking to a page of verses that talk about personal responsibility here. Just so you know, none of those verses say, "Hurry, find someone else to blame as quickly as possible."

Ok, back on track. We have stopped feeling responsible for the spreading of The Gospel. (Mark 16:15)

If you want to blame someone for the decaying of this troubled world, you have to understand that you play a part. You won't change the entire world with your personal change of heart and commitment to God and His plan, but you will change the world of the people around you. You will be different and everyone around you will take notice. Your heart will soften to things and break in ways you didn't think possible.
When you truly find your home in Jesus, you will learn what it means to love others.

Sidebar: I don't like everyone. Not even close to very many people, but in Jesus I am learning to love people because they are His.

My kids do not always like each other and that sometimes breaks my heart (and my brain) but they are both mine and I long for them to get along. Can you imagine what Jesus must feel like? How many times a day is he banging his head off a wall? He's probably thinking, these kids were already the death of me once, can't they just be nice and love each other before they put me in another grave?!

Christians, we are complacent. When we see that someone else is a sinner so we don't seem to think we need to do any better because Lord knows we aren't as bad as so-n-so over there. Bar on Saturday church on Sunday. Bless their hearts.

Bless ours, y'all. Bless our hearts. SELF RESPONSIBILITY, take some. We all sinners.

It is not comfortable to be different. It isn't easy. We don't blend in when we are light in a dark world.

You know what we've done? We've made our 4 year old selves ashamed. Yes we have.

When we were 4 we sang a song: This Little Light of Mine. And we meant it, until we didn't.
And now we've done gone and hid it under a bushel and let Satan whew (blow) it out, and we have failed to let it shine. We should be so embarrassed...

I shuffled some songs tonight while I controlled the chaos that is my home, and this song came on:
Courageous by Casting Crowns. Y'all click that link and listen to it...(The movie is excellent also)

"We were made to be courageous....The only way we'll ever stand is on our knees with lifted hands."

When did we stop seeking justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God? That moment, THAT was when we not only failed God, but ourselves, our kids, our world. We were made to be courageous and we have just been cowardly. Someone might think we are different or weird or too much or too bright for the darkness and we let our light dim and flicker out.

We have to take some responsibility for the world we are living in.

If you aren't a Christian and you've managed to make it through this, thanks for sticking around. I know a lot of Christians aren't very Christian-like. They can be some pretty nasty people, I really, really know, I've grown up around too many to count. I hope that you don't base your opinions on those. I'd like to be the exception.  If you don't believe in God, that's your prerogative, you get to do that. We can still be friends. We can especially be friends if you are good people. If you know how to take personal responsibility and call it like it is, I like those folks.

Fact is, we live in a free country. We have rights that were handed down to us because people were brave and made sacrifices and shed blood for them. Freedom of religion is a favorite of mine. It is sad to watch us take that for granted.

I'm gonna leave you with a question:
If tomorrow the first amendment was amended to remove our freedom of religion and they came for your Bible and your basis of faith, how much of it would you know by heart? How much of it could you pass on to your children? If you never again had the opportunity to open that Bible that sits on your nightstand collecting dust, how useful would you be to God?

We were made to be courageous, y'all. How much courage have you shown lately?







2 comments:

  1. I am getting caught up on some blogs that I have bookmarked and read periodically and just read this today. There are some very powerful words here, and so much truth. I admire you eloquence. Thank you for this "food for thought". (And you are right, when a gate is left open, it is ALWAYS someone else's fault!)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for reading and the kind words! Sorry it took me a month to respond, I'm not very on top of things on here, but not for lack of want to. Other duties call...always, other duties.

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