Personal Responsibility

Friday December 5, 2014

My friend´s eyes revealed what I was feeling - fear! We two 13 year olds had behaved poorly and were now covering before the camp director. The man, who knew our dads well, raised the decibels as he shouted, "You, the son of Dick Thomas, and you, the son of Ray Felten, how could you have done this?" Needless to say, we wanted to crawl under the table - feeling the weight of personal responsibility for our offence, and having remorse over the shame we had brought to our fathers.

God gave Zephaniah a message for the people of Judah that contained some potent words about personal responsibility for sin (Zephaniah 1:1, 6-7). After spending chapter 2 describing the judgements He would bring against Judah´s foes, He turned His eyes squarely on His squirming people in chapter 3. "What sorrow awaits rebellious, polluted Jerusalem!" God proclaimed (3:1). "[The people] get up early to continue their evil deeds" (v.7).

He had seen the cold hearts of His people - their spiritual apathy, social injustice and ugly greed - and He was bringing the "fire" (v.8). And it didn´t matter if the individuals were "leaders", "judges", "prophets" - everyone was guilty before our holy God (vv. 3-4).

Now, this account might seem far removed from our day. But consider the reality that each of us is personally responsible for the shame our sin brings to our heavenly Father, those we love, and other believers. As the apostle Paul wrote of those who persist in rebellion against God, "You are storing up terrible judgement for yourself ... [God] will judge everyone according to what they have done" (Romans 2:5-6).

In contrast, may we choose to live in a way that honours our holy, loving Father and leads to no remorse - Tom Felten

Read
Zephaniah 3:1-8
Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellios and defiled!
She obeys no one, she accepts no correction.
She does not trust in the Lord,
She does not draw near to her God.
Her officials are roaring lions,
her rulers are evening wolves,
who leave nothing for the morning.
Her prophets are arrogant; they are treacherous men.
Her priests profane the sanctuary and do violence to the law.
The Lord within her is righteous; he does no wrong.
Morning by morning he dispenses his justice,
and every new day he does not fail, 
yet the unrighteous know no shame.

"I have cut off nations; their strongholds are demolished. I have left their streets deserted,
with no one passing through.
Their cities are destroyed; no one will be left - no one at all.
I said to the city, 'Surely you will fear me and accept correction!'
Then her dwelling would not be cut off,
nor all my punishments come upon her.
But they were still eager to act corruptly in all they did.
Therefore wait for me," declares the Lord, "for the day I will stand up to testify. I have 
decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms and to pour out my wrath on them - all my fierce anger.
The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger."

2 Corinthains 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

1 Peter 5:5-6
Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God´s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

Ephesians 1:7
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God´s grace

Question to Ponder
What comes to mind as you consider personal responsibility for your sin?
How can our rebellion and wrong choices bring shame to God and others?
What can you do to show genuine repentance for your actions and choices?

**Article taken from ODJ (Our Daily Journey with God) Dec 2014 - Feb 2015 issue