Lent Day 21: Our Responsibility

As I think of this walk with Christ on this twenty-first lenten morning, I wonder what it is exactly you and I are called to do. 

Does the Father require anything of us? 

Does the Holy Spirit expect something from us?

Does the Son assign and place a specific burden on us?

Does the Lord utilize a measuring stick for this thing we call following Christ?

My probing mind led me to Micah 6:6-8:

“With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God?

Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil?

Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? 

To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

That is our responsibility.

Period.

If that be the case, then, why do we muddle the concept of walking with Christ with so many unnecessary rules and unhealthy expectations prescribed by the flesh? Might that be the catalyst fueling the disinterest in church generally evoked by this post-modern society—causing so many to despise or, at the very least, disrespect churchgoers?

This moral/ethical code to which God has called you and me is an impossible responsibility because, on our own, we cannot maintain such righteous living. 

We do not act justly.

We do not love mercy.

We do not walk humbly.

And, worse yet, we are ever more attempting to walk independently . . .

on our own 

in our own strength

through our own cleverness

for our very own pleasure and passion

without

Immanuel!

No. 

Walking independently does NOT work.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, works without God!

Therefore, in His unfathomable grace, Christ paved a way for us to fulfill our responsibility. He willingly, joyfully, lovingly paid the penalty for our sin and signed a peace treaty with us. His continual saving power perpetually causes us to be transformed in Christ so that we can perform deeds that broadcast God’s nature and fame for His glory (Eph. 2:10).

Our sole responsibility is to surrender to Christ:

to rejoice in His justice

to rejoice in His love for mercy

to rejoice in His commitment to humility

to rejoice in His continual quest for intimacy

Yes. Today is the day of surrender -- total, complete, absolute.

As you and I continue to surrender to Him, let us pray that we will respond obediently to His Spirit as He guides us to act justly (loving God first and treating others with love, compassion, fairness, gentleness, patience, self-control), to love mercy (acknowledging and expressing our gratitude to God and other benefactors in good and bad times, and extending grace and forgiveness to offenders), and to walk humbly with God (recognizing God’s sovereignty over all and putting others ahead of us in everything according to the Lord).

As you and I continue to surrender to Christ, let us pray that we will remember that Christ acts justly (when we fall short); Christ loves mercy (when we cling to bitterness and resentment); Christ walks humbly (when we erect walls of pride and entitlement); Christ walks in sync with the Father (when we reject intimacy with God). 

He has already done and granted everything we need for life and godliness.

We need only surrender, accept, and receive His righteousness.

What a delightful responsibility!

May we all embrace our responsibility with joy, deep love, and gratitude!