Our Responsibility To Others

Loving others in a biblical manner involves your thoughts, words, and actions and is a sign of your being a disciple of Christ. Loving others biblically is dependent on your commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ and is not dependent on people, circumstances, or your feelings.  John C. Broger

Every day you are witnessing. What are you witnessing to? Your witness is the total package of your attitudes, character, and actions. It does not lie.  Winkie Pratney

Do you ever think about the responsibility you have to others?  I started thinking about the daily things in my life that I do that could nurture another person or break them down.

What a huge responsibility God has placed on us. If you think about what other people might see in you that could give them a picture of who God is, would that picture be a masterpiece worth more than money can buy or would it be a paint by numbers picture of the world.

When I was a kid they had paint by numbers kits you could buy at the TG&Y.  A picture was printed on a canvas in light gray and different numbers were assigned to each section on the print that corresponded to a paint color that came with the kit.  You would select the color that corresponded and paint inside the lines.  In the end you would have a completed picture.  One of the early advertisements proclaimed that you could make “A BEAUTIFUL OIL PAINTING THE FIRST TIMEYOU TRY”.  All this really meant was that if you followed the directions you could produce something that looked exactly like every other paint by number kit produced of that picture.

When we start to think that the world has the best life can offer we move away from becoming a “masterpiece” and move toward becoming a “paint by number” picture.  Each one of us has a responsibility to each person we come into contact with, to alter that person’s eternal destination.  When we start to think that what we do and how we act doesn’t have consequences, that is the beginning of our slide down that slippery slope into sin. 

When I think that if someone was watching what I do and something I did caused them to sin; that scares me.  Because when I do that I have sinned against what God specifically tells me to do.  If our actions cause one person to turn away from God we are responsible.  If God tells me that if I cause “one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea”, that gets my attention.  Don’t ever think that what you do isn’t affecting someone around you. If I have children, friends, family members, neighbors or strangers in my life, then I have a responsibility to them to be the masterpiece God calls me to be.  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You created me in Your likeness.  It is my responsibility to present to the world a picture of You.  I can follow along in the world’s wake and be like every other paint by number picture, or I can devote my life to becoming a masterpiece.  A masterpiece that is a reflection of You.                  

Scripture: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes! “If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire.  Matthew 18:6-9