TRUSTWORTHINESS

 

TRUSTWORTHINESS

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

1Corinthians [NLT] 13:11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.

  Think about the word "responsibility".  If you break it into its two main parts you get "respons-" and "-ibility".  It's not too far of a stretch to say that it could be defined as "the ability to respond". 

  Thinking of responsibility this way in the context of everyday life makes sense.  Looking at Scripture to discern whether or not this thought is accurate (which we should always do-Paul tells us to test everything in 1Thes.5:21) also proves its validity.  A responsible person is able to respond when:

1)      INTERROGATED
-Jesus was interrogated by the Pharisees on countless occasions but He was able to respond with truth and they were never able to trap Him.  Though they would eventually crucify Him on a cross He still reigned triumphant by rising from the dead three days later.  (Books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John)
-Paul was questioned by the political and religious authorities multiple times but was able to respond with truth each time.  Although he was beaten and tortured severely he counted it as gain because it was out of service to the Lord Jesus Christ.  (Acts 22:1-23:10; 2Cor.11:23-33)
-Jesus exhorts us to not be afraid of what we will say when questioned by authorities for the Holy Spirit will give us words to speak.  (Matt 10:19)
-When Job was questioned by God he realized where he was wrong at and admitted these sins to God.  God responded with forgiveness (as He will for all of us when we repent) and blessed Job even more than He had initially.  Sometimes responsibility means being able to respond with an admission of our sin when faced with an honest and correct rebuke.  (Job 38:1-42:6)
-David was confronted by Nathan the prophet about his adultery with Bathsheba and also responded by taking responsibility for his actions.  (2Sam.12:1-13)

2)      CHALLENGED
-Nehemiah accepted the challenge of rebuilding the wall even though he faced military opposition from a group of conspirators and a lack of morale in his own people, those working on the wall with him and those coming from afar just to discourage the workers.  (Neh. 4)
-David faced Goliath’s challenge as a young man while many grown men were too afraid to do so and his older brother attempted to discourage him from going to fight the giant.  (1Sam.17)
-Paul exhorts men to provide for their families.  While one application of this is in financial matters another is if a man’s wife and/or children are threatened being obedient and responsible means standing up to the challenge and defending them.  (1Tim.5:8)

3)      THEIR WISDOM IS SOUGHT
-People came from all over to hear Jesus’ teachings because they knew He would be able to teach and share wisdom in an extraordinary way.  (Mk.3:7,8)
-Solomon’s counsel was sought by rulers from many countries since his wisdom was known all around the world.  (1Kin.4:34)
                *NOTE: Although in his later years Solomon exhibited many irresponsible traits this         happened during the responsible part of his life.

4)      FACING DIFFICULT LIFE CIRCUMSTANCES
-Job went through many severe hardships and as noted above was eventually rebuked by God for some of the things that he said while going through those trials, but through it all he would not curse God.  (Book of Job)

-Jesus died the most excruciating death possible when He was crucified on a cross, but even shortly before His death some of His last words were to ask for forgiveness for those responsible for crucifying Him, thereby maintaining His obedience to God’s will and continuing to be responsible for what He was sent to do literally until death.  (Luke 23:33,34; Phil 2:8)

  These examples all have the common factor of success being hinged upon one's ability to respond.  Lacking the ability to respond leads one to not follow the examples set before us in Scripture, therefore making us irresponsible.  David Repair 

PS: I’ve known David since his boyhood days. He is a young follower of Christ practicing 1Corinthians 13 Biblical thinking with diligent application and has therein moved from untrustworthy to trustworthy. For future possible airing as DTs, I have invited him to write more brief essays on his developing fellowship and maturation with Christ and John 1:12 family. Also, in proofreading David’s essay I searched Scripture. One interesting thing I discovered is though it frequently addresses responsibility, nowhere in the KJV is “responsible” or “responsibility” found. EBB4