Some of you may think your sphere of influence is not that important, but to God, and His purposes, taking responsibility for your “bean patch” is vital to the overall expansion of God’s Kingdom on earth during this season.
Responsibility
Hayley Braun
Lord do it in me first! Remove the limitations and labels from my mind and remove the impossibilities and hopelessness from my heart. Make me an instrument of your peace and reconciliation, attune my ears to your voice so that I can release with authority what you are longing to be seen.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
If we want to be Christians, we must have some share in Christ’s large-heartedness by acting with responsibility and in freedom when the hour of danger comes, and by showing a real sympathy that springs, not from fear, but from the liberating and redeeming love of Christ for all who suffer. Mere waiting and looking on is not Christian behaviour. The Christian is called to sympathy and action, not in the first place by his own sufferings, but by the sufferings of his brethren, for whose sake Christ suffered.
Seth Dahl
It is no one else’s responsibility to avoid my triggers. It is not the government’s responsibility to redesign the nation so I don’t get triggered. It is not a business’s job to make sure they don’t say anything that triggers me. It’s not my spouses’ responsibility to walk on eggshells so I don’t blow up. It’s not my kid’s responsibility to behave in such a way I don’t go off on them. It’s my responsibility to make sure I don’t have bullets loaded in my heart so no matter what happens around me I respond in a healthy way.
Damon Thompson
March 9, 2020
The answer for a nation in moral recession is a burning church, and the answer for a church that’s not burning is a burning man.
Henri J. M. Nouwen
December 16, 2019
Sometimes I think of life as a big wagon wheel with many spokes. In the middle is the hub. Often in ministry, it looks like we are running around the rim trying to reach everybody. But God says, “Start in the hub; live in the hub. Then you will be connected with all the spokes, and you won’t have to run so fast.”
Henry Cloud
Ownership empowers us to act – to use our various skills to make plans, tackle a hurtful situation, or right a wrong. People who “own” their problems are people who can take initiative. The jobless man goes on executive search interviews. The unhappy wife seeks help, whether or not her husband is interested. Ownership also gives us freedom. You are no longer a slave to this past, to false hope, to wishing someone would change, or to discourage and passivity. You are free to try out answers, take risks and take steps.
Francis A Schaeffer
The tree in the field is to be treated with respect. It is not to be romanticized as the old lady romanticizes her cat (that is, she reads human reactions into it). . . . But while we should not romanticize the tree, we must realize that God made it and it deserves respect because he made it as a tree. Christians who do not believe in the complete evolutionary scale have reason to respect nature as the total evolutionist never can, because we believe that God made these things specifically in their own areas. So if we are going to argue against evolutionists intellectually, we should show the results of our beliefs in our attitudes. The Christian is a man who has a reason for dealing with each created thing on a high level of respect.
Kris Vallotton
Some ask, “Isn’t God in control of everything?” He is in charge, but He is not in control. Think about it; if God was in absolute control of the planet, there would be no sin, no death, no sickness, no child abuse, no murder, no hatred, etc. God is in charge of everything, but He has left us in control. In Psalms 115:16, we read, “The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, but the earth He has given to the sons of men.” The earthly realm is under the dominion and control of humankind. Therefore we must operate responsibly.
Franklin Graham
We must not forget that it wasn’t the Jews that put him on the cross, and it wasn’t the Romans. It was my sins, it was your sins, the sins of this world.