Responsibility

I grew up under Godly, Christian parents.  My dad was a pastor whose ministry was geared toward crisis churches.  He was constantly called upon to advise, counsel, and/or pastor churches with serious problems.  Problems such as distrust between leadership and congregations, dissension, derision, racism, child abuse, slander, sexual immorality and the like.  Being there are numerous churches who experience these sad realities, I moved around quite a bit as an adolescent.  In church after church dad was called to, I witnessed the same things over and over.  Dad angered a lot of people and I could never understand why--I mean, they called him to their churches to root out the issues, then they would turn on him bitterly.  Dad always made it clear beforehand that he was out to reinstate Christ as the head of the church and sought God the Father's glory, not man's praise.  He would confront the problems head on not backing down.  I never understood other Christians lashing out so venomously toward my dad and his family for preaching what all Christians claimed to believe in--yet as I got older I grew to understand the simplicity behind the rage.  Simply put, pride.  It's always the other person's fault, no one accepts responsibility. 

Adam and Eve started this trend.  When confronted by God in the Garden of Eden, as to what they did, Adam answered, "The woman you put here with me--she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it" and Eve replied, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate it" (Genesis 3:12, 13b).  Adam passed the buck onto Eve and she in turn blamed the serpent.  Neither accepted their own decision to disobey.  And that in effect is what sin is, a direct disobedience toward God.  Nothing has changed to this day.  We all love to blame the other fella, because to be called out on our wrongs is abominable toward our pride. 

Well, I fell prey to this ill-conceived pattern of thought.  My dad passed away when I was nineteen, suffering intensely for many months.  I became enraged at God and His family.  I thought, "Why would I want any part of a God who has caused my dad to suffer in life and death?  And why would I want to be part of a family who constantly attacks one another?"  I began to judge God based on other's actions, thinking He must be like His family.  I blamed God for my misery, I blamed others for my anger.  I spent the last twenty years addicted to liquor, drugs and sex.  With every passing year I became angrier and angrier toward God.  I was blinded by pride.  So much so, I was unable to even contemplate the cause of my misery was myself.  Not until I almost found my way into a box six feet under, did I finally wake up.  Sad to think it took almost dying to clear away conceit, but I thank my heavenly Father for the close call.  I have realized Jesus is nothing like the world system which surrounds.  He has called out to me with patience and infinite amounts of love and grace.  I subsequently returned to the church hoping for a warm welcome.

Sadly, this was not the case.  I reached out over and over receiving very little comfort and encouragement from Christ's representatives.  Honestly, no one seemed to even care this prodigal had returned home.  Oh, don't get me wrong, they smiled and praised the Lord, but very few, if any, actually reached out to me offering assistance in my growth in the Lord.  This was extremely disheartening.  Here I was calling out for help, asking for comfort and friendship, only to get cold shoulders of no response.  Where's the compassion?  Where's the love, man?

Thank God the seed of Truth landed upon fertile ground within my heart, or else I would have walked away again never to return.  Unfortunately, this is the case with countless populations of people throughout the world.  The apathy within the church nowadays is spreading at a bacterial rate.  The coldness and compassionless reactions of those claiming Christianity are turning many off from the faith.  Many unbelievers view Christians as high and mighty, self-righteous, haughty individuals who only care about professions in Christ rather than professions of Christ.  Christ as a career is the plight among many pastors and teachers today which only lends credence to 1 Timothy 4:5, "...men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think godliness is a means to financial gain."  Titus 1:11 also mentions similar type of men, "They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach--and that for the sake of dishonest gain."  Not to mention 2 Peter 2:3, "In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up..."  Christianity has been severely damaged by such leaders.  The grace of God is mistaken for a license to live freely at the expense of others.

Leaders are not the only ones to blame here.  The congregation of believers must accept responsibility as well.  We have in the last decades become a self-righteous people, judging others as lost and with no hope of change.  Too often Christians forget that we too were once saved, which implies we were just as lost as those who are still lost.  And to continue on with apathetic walks of Christianity impales true grace.  None of us deserve salvation.  "We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).  Yet, God's grace is a gift of undeserved favor even to the worst of sinners.  We as Christians cannot continue to blame the darkness in the world solely upon the unsaved, when we continue to act in such selfish ways.  We must accept responsibility for our own actions or should I say lack of action.  Furthermore, we must stand for biblical truth and cast out false teachers who deceive multitudes.  Responsibility is an individual action which holds corporate healing.