responsibility

My Son Told Me He was Done Doing Chores

When he was about 7 years old, my oldest son decided he didn’t want to do his chores. I remember having a conversation with him about how we were all part of a family and everyone did things for each other so that all of the work around the house would get done. The theme of this as far as I was concerned was, “we all work together and help each other.” After having thought it over, he came back to me and told me, “I’ll do everything for myself, and then I won’t have to do anything for anyone else.”
Problem solved? Not in my book! I felt the need to expose him to a little reality. “So do you mean you’re going to earn money, shop for groceries, cook your own food and buy your own clothes? Okay, if you do that, you don’t have to do any chores.”
A resigned look came over his little face and he sighed. “I’ll just go do my chores now.”
Oh son, how much we’re like you sometimes in our spiritual life. We want the privileges of being part of the family of God, but none of the responsibilities. We want Jesus to be savior of our souls, but when it comes to giving him the position of being Lord of our lives; we don’t want to obey Him. We want to go our own way and do what we want to do when we want to do it, but is that the deal we signed up for?

Can we have one without the other?

The bible blows this little theory right out of the water. What does “Lord” mean after we’ve been saved? “For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.” 1 Peter 2:16.  We are free from sin and from spiritual death, but we are obligated by our love of God to pray as Jesus did, “Not my will, but yours be done.”
In Luke 6:46-49 Jesus says, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord, ‘and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

A prayer about Lordship

Lord, please forgive me for using you as savior while at the same time denying you as Lord of my life. Lead me in the big things and the small things. Open my ears to hear your voice and open my eyes to see the tasks that you set before me. Not my will, but yours. Amen.