Skip to main content

Our Responsibility


When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself (Ezekiel 3:18-19) 

       A year ago as I was listening to the Bible in my car, I heard these verses. God says this to Ezekiel again in the next two verses, and twice again in chapter 33. We have a similar idea today. If an emergency responder sees an emergency and does not respond within the scope of their training, they are legally liable. This is one of the reasons I speak out about things that I believe are wrong. I'll grant I'm far from perfect about it, and I may not have the delicate hand people want me to have, but if I say nothing because I can't say it "right" then I abrogate my responsibility. Put another way, if I don't say something when something is wrong, I can't claim to care about that person. I'm not loving them.
           There are several things that need to be said here. Several years ago, a friend told me that someone she had never seen before had just come up to her and tried to witness to her in a very heavy-handed way. She was a Christian already. I don't recall what she said to him, but his response was along the lines of, "Well, I tried, that means your blood isn't on my hands, it's on your own," and he stormed off. There was no love or concern or compassion in what he did. He was simply crossing another person off his list - abrogating responsibility in a different way.
            In addition to using this warning as an invitation to hatefully rid oneself of responsibility, one can also use it as an invitation to anxiety and codependency. We can take the attitude that it is my responsibility to reach these people, and if they haven't responded "appropriately" then we've failed them and condemned them to eternal fire. "It's all my fault" we might say as we wring our hands. "I told them and they didn't listen. Their blood is on my hands." God doesn't hold us responsible for the decisions of others. 
          I won't claim that my style is the right approach either. I tend to be too blunt and too stubborn/patient. I've not good at the gentle, sweetness and light approach that some advocate. I don't throw people away if they don't do what I want, but I confront. I keep asking God to change that about me. But neither is "loving" on them in hopes that someday they'll miraculously recognize their error and change their ways. 
          "Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." (Ephesians 415-16)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Shepherd!

                 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep . (John 10:14) God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Genesis 3:14) The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths     for his name’s sake. Even though I walk     through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,     for you are with me; your rod and your staff,     they comfort me. (Psalm 23:1-4) For the Jews, it was politically incorrect to make claims about yourself as a teacher (or possibly as anything else.) Teachers were expected to take pride in the...
Post a Comment
Read more