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In a world quick to claim rights but slow to accept responsibility, this reflection challenges Christians to live courageously, speak truth in love, and embrace God’s call to integrity.

Out on my morning walk, I witnessed a man with a little green bag picking up the poop of his golden retriever. What a responsible citizen!

As I continued my walk, I began meditating on the out-of-fashion word: Responsibility.

Why is it we are so quick to claim our rights and so reluctant to accept our responsibilities?

The dictionary gives us a number of different aspects of responsibility.

1. Being the person who caused something to happen
2. A duty or task you are expected to do
3. Accepting the obligation or duty to perform a task
4. Something you should do because it is morally and/or legally the right thing to do.

In Genesis 4, we have the sad story of two brothers, Cain and Abel. Cain was filled with hatred for his brother and murdered him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel, your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”

It scares me to think this is the subconscious line many of us accept today. It’s not my responsibility. People make their own choices. What right do I have to impose my standards on others?

Our First Responsibility is to Love

In the tumultuous world in which we live, with many different ideologies competing for our attention, we may find our sense of moral obligation or responsibility being challenged. Jesus made it abundantly clear, our first response is to love, even those we disagree with.

Somehow, this has become out of kilter. In the same way, the Pharisees, fixated on the law, reacting to their perception of Jesus and His disciples breaking it on the Sabbath (Matthew 26), we are being exhorted to love, above everything else.

But is it loving to overlook blatant sin, distortion and deception, when the consequences are eternal? The loving and responsible thing to do is to call it out for what it is.

How have we allowed obvious, blatant lies, such as being able to change your sex, to be normalised? Somehow, we have distorted what it means to love.

The sobering truth is we will all be held accountable for our actions. There is no difference between the sin of commission and the sin of omission. Yes, we are covered by God’s amazing grace, but do we miss His blessing because of our silence? Do we encourage sin to flourish because of reticence to call it what it is?

Are we really loving our neighbour as ourselves if we do nothing to warn of the coming judgement?

Taking responsibility means exposing ourselves to ridicule, misunderstanding, even persecution. But God exhorts us to be strong and courageous. Thank God, there are some very courageous people who are standing up for the truth, such as Dr Joanna Howe and Lyle Shelton.

Integrity and Self-Control

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Polonius gives wise advice to his son Laertes:

“This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.”

Have we lost sight of what it means to be true to ourselves? If we are honest, do we really believe the woke ideology which states gender is fluid and I have the right to choose my own gender?

When I was five, my younger brother drowned. He was the only son in our extended family. My father was devastated. I so wanted to be the boy he wished I was. No matter how much I dressed as a boy, I could not be one. I am so grateful I wasn’t set on the path to imagine I could change my sex.

Jesus invites us to take responsibility for who we are

We are made in the image of God. But God is a God who chooses – He chose Abraham, He chose Israel, He chose you. He made us able to have choices too. Whether we like it or not, we make choices every day.

Even when it goes against societal norms, we are invited to take responsibility for our choices. We can choose to align with who God says we are, of infinite worth to Him, or we can align with the world. The prince of this world whispers to us daily: “Did God really say…”

Jesus invites us to reject guilt, shame, confusion and lies, and lean into Him. Why? Because His love is unconditional. He loves us so much, He sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay the penalty of our sin. There is nothing that could make God love us more, and nothing we have done that would make him close the door.

When we align with Scripture, seeking God’s wisdom and guidance, He promises to transform our minds. Don’t we need transformational thinking in our world right now?

Wake up, church – it’s time to pick up the poop!

In his letters, Paul exhorts us to follow his example.  He was acutely aware of his past life as a persecutor of the Jesus-followers. But once he knew the truth, that Jesus was who He said He was, the promised Messiah, he chose to promote The Way, no matter what it cost. And it cost him his life.  Although he knew this was the most likely outcome, he chose to say:

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish (or dung), that I may gain Christ. (Philippians 3:8)

Sadly, in our desire to be accepted or even with the noble desire for the Gospel to be accepted, we have become afraid to ‘tell it like it is’ and instead of picking up the poop, we’ve allowed it to foul our nest.

So here’s the challenge: Seek God’s wisdom, as He invites us to do, to open the doors for us to accept our responsibility to speak the truth in love. He promises never to leave us or forsake us. The rewards are eternal. The choice is ours.

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Image courtesy of Adobe.