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A Disciple of Jesus Is Self-Responsible
Brian Mashburn
October 29, 2006
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A Disciple of Jesus Is Self-Responsible
One morning this week, my son Shade's buddy Corey from down the street didn't show up for me to take him to school. Strange. He's always early. The time came and went, and I took Shade and assumed they took Corey.
His mom called later apologizing. She had left the front room where Corey was watching TV with a timer set to go off for Corey to know when to come over. It went off, but Corey didn't come down. When she returned to the front room, after school started, Corey was still there.
Bottom line? Corey wasn't being self-responsible enough to take care of that priority. And that's okay, he's in training. And some of you might be thinking his mom could've done more.
In so many encounters, it seems like Jesus could have done more than He did for the people He served. One woman, after He saved her from the judgmental crowd, exhorted her to "go and sin no more". He was inviting her to be self-responsible with the gift He gave her. After Jesus expelled demons from him, He told a man to go home and initiate meaningful conversations with his family and neighbors. He wanted him to be self-responsible with the gift He gave him, too.
Bottom line? There are no circumstances possible that are able to keep you from being Christ-like within them. No church stops you from being a disciple, no matter how "off-base" they are. No family stops you from being a disciple, no matter how dysfunctional it is. No money problems can keep you from being a good steward, and no political ideology in the White House can be blamed for why you aren't acting like Christ.
Could this be part of what Paul means when he said, "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." (1 Corinthians 13:11)
Corey is still learning how to "become a man" and be
self-responsible. He knows he had no one else to blame for missing his ride with Shade...he had all he needed...except self-responsibility. And many of us are still learning the same thing. We have no one to blame for our not experiencing "life to the full" that Christ came to give us...He has given us all we need to have it. And He expects us to be self-responsible enough to live it, for our good and God's glory.