October 17, 2012
Requirements
“If each one sweeps before his own door, the whole street is clean.”
- A Yiddish Proverb
Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Micah 6:6-8
To be held accountable or responsible for who we are and what we do can sometimes be overwhelmingly daunting: especially in today’s world.
The trend in society today is to blame others for what we do, or why we do it. Children often blame the outcome of their choices on the influences of those around them. This peer pressure is not relegated to the confines of youth: it is often experienced in adulthood as well: and again it is often used as the justification or excuse as to why we adults do some of the things we do. And, of course, there is the ever present predisposition to blame the effects of parental influence on our choices in life. Yet ultimately, ever though all these factors are there to impact, influence and maybe even sway us towards one bent or another: isn’t the choice of what we actually decide to do, ultimately our own to make?
We are a society of individuals who boast of and demand independence so fiercely: yet we are ever reticent to want to embrace the responsibility of being totally independent. It’s the proverbial conundrum of wanting our cake while eating it too.
Yet with God there is no doubt that He expects us to accept the responsibility for our choices, our decisions and our actions. If we reject God’s gift of salvation it will be no ones fault but ours that we end up in hell. If we disobey God’s directives, it won’t be the pastor’s fault or the deacon’s fault or even our parents fault: it will be us, as individuals, who will have to give an account to God for the choices we have made.
God has given us an amazing amount of freedom to choose what we will and won’t do: and with that freedom; there is a great responsibility to exercise that liberty wisely.
Today’s Prayer
Father, it is often so easy to make bad choices and then look for scapegoats: but I want to make wise, good and sound choices and I want to be brave and bold and honest enough to accept the consequences for those things I choose to do. So I ask that you help me with the first and hold me to the later.
“Purify my heart
Let me be as gold
And precious silver
Purify my heart
Cleanse me from within
And make me holy
Refiner’s fire
My hearts one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You my Master
Ready to do your will.“
- Lyrics from ‘Refiner’s Fire’ by Brian Doerksen
No comments:
Post a Comment