"My Responsibility"

"I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:14

Have you noticed how many action verbs there are in the scriptures? "Press" toward the mark; "study" to show yourself approved; "forget" those things which are behind; "seek" first; "believe" on; "rejoice" in the Lord; "pray" always; etc. The Christian life is one of action- it's not passive. Each of these action verbs calls us to personal accountability. They remind us that we each individually have a responsibility to progress further in our walk and relationship with the Lord.

Please don't misunderstand what I am about to say because we do need each other. The Bible says that we are like the joints of a body that fitly join together and supply to each other. It also tells us to pray for one another, bear one another's burdens, edify each other, exhort and encourage one another. I am thankful that God has given us ministers who help us in our spiritual growth, but they should never take the place of my personal responsibility to "work out my own salvation".

I can't depend on someone else to do it all for me. I have to do some studying myself. I have to learn to cultivate my own relationship with the Lord. I have to gather manna myself. I have to learn to watch and pray. Waiting on someone else to do it for me is not God's intention. When I let someone else do my Christian disciplines for me, I am cheated out of a close intimate relationship with the Lord, I miss receiving a revelation that God's desires to give to me, I become spiritually lazy.

Thank God for those who teach us and help us grow and mature in the Lord because they are a blessing to our lives- they are to mine. But it's not their place to do for me what I am suppose to be doing for myself. They are there to help me- not do it for me.

Have a great day. We each have a personal responsibility to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.