Right from the beginning we have responsibilities, well almost. As soon as you understood there were things you shouldn’t do, you had the responsibility to do what was right. You were told “don’t touch” and if you didn’t obey you may have gotten your hand spanked. It wasn’t long until your responsibilities increased as did the consequences when you failed. When you were told to eat and didn’t, you may have gone hungry. Potty training may have been a little harder because what was acceptable became a problem when you failed. Hopefully, even with the consequences, you learned your parents loved you and the small consequences now were to keep you away from something far worse and prepare you to receive rewards!
As you got older you were given more responsibilities like cleaning your room, playing nice, and sharing. When you started school, your responsibilities dramatically increased and so did the consequences if you didn’t behave, pay attention, and complete your work. GOD told your parents to “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Prov 22:6 KJV) and many are trying to do that. At some point you became responsible enough to accept or reject JESUS. From that point on, you were either “born again” (John 3:3) or living one breath away from eternal damnation.
If you are a parent, now it’s your turn to “Train up a child in the way he should go” and your failure can result in your precious child spending eternity in Hell! But they must make that decision for themselves! Yes, but you are the best witness and have the most influence on them during their formative years. If you shirk your responsibilities the thief will train them up through television, the internet, and their friends. Will you leave their tender hearts in the hands of the thief who “cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10)?
Those important duties are not your only responsibilities. JESUS said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Mat 22:37-40 KJV). Notice these are commandments, which make them your responsibilities. But that’s the Law and we are free from that. If those words of JESUS are not enough for you, the rest of the New Testament tells us to do the same things. If that doesn’t convince you, after JESUS died for our sins and rose from the grave and just before ascending to Heaven, (under the New Covenant) He told us to “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15 KJV), which is another way of saying “love GOD” and “love your neighbor.”
But what if I don’t believe all that, and I’m not born again? If you don’t accept JESUS as your Savior before you die, then you are responsible to pay for your sins. You will believe “all that” when you stand before Him in judgement because “God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:9-11 KJV).
Wayne Lance (2023) – That’s Good News to Share!