Sacred Responsibility

-
Image Source: Jesse Orrico

I have written often about experiencing God's grace in the world around us. But one of the greatest elements of the Jesus story is that we are able to partner with God in order to share God's grace with others.

There are many ways that we are able to do this - one of the primary being through our responsibilities to others.

Responsibility is not a word that generally excites us. It does not necessarily spark feelings of joy.

Often, our responsibilities are not thrilling activities. Our lives are filled with menial work: chores, paying bills, lifting children, etc.

If we resent these activities, we can easily begin resenting the people that we are doing them for.

For example, if we resent changing diapers, we can begin resenting the child whose diaper we are changing; if we get annoyed by listening to our friend's complaining about their problems, we can begin to be annoyed by our friend; if we hate working at our jobs, we can begin taking that emotion out on those who we are working to earn money for - our spouse, children, etc.

But what if we change the way that we view our responsibilities?

What if, instead of thinking of our responsibilities as something that we have to do, we think of them as a sacred opportunity that we have been given to bless those whom we love?

What if, instead of despising the need to pay our children's school fees because it leaves us short of money, we are grateful for the sacred responsibility that we have to bless our children with the opportunity to quality education? What if, instead of getting grumpy when we have to mow the lawn, wash dishes or clean our rooms, we are honoured for the sacred responsibility of caring for the things that we have been blessed with (things that many others could only dream of ever having)?

When we alter our attitude towards some of the menial tasks that we are required to do regularly, these tasks change from being things that we dread doing to things that we have the opportunity to do in order to share God's amazing grace with those around us.

What are some of the things that we do only because we have to? Could our attitude to these things change if we see them as sacred responsibilities that we have been given to bless those around us whom we love and care for?
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters."
- Colossians 3:23 (NIV)



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

The Laws of Leviticus

-
Image
The second and third passages of scripture that are used to condemn homosexuality and clobber LGBTQ+ people come from the often-read book of Leviticus (sarcasm alert). Before digging into these verses, let’s quote them here: “Don’t lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.” - Leviticus 18:22 “‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” - Leviticus 20:13 These strong words in the Bible have armed anti-gay protesters with enough content to fill their picket signs with hatred and violence. “Homosexuality is an Abomination” and “God hates fags” and “To death with the gays” are all signs that make regular appearances at Pride parades throughout the world, unfortunately often held up by so-called Christians. Regardless of someone’s belief about homosexuality, I will never understand how some Christians see this as a Christ-like response...
Read more

The Ceremony that Divided the Church

-
Image
Note: A shorter version of this article was first published with the Jesuit Institute of South Africa. Last week Friday, my family sat down to watch the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The French always have a knack for the theatrics and this year was no different. The performances throughout the long ceremony were mesmerizing and provocative. We went to bed that night feeling tired but excited for the Olympic Games that were officially starting the following day. Little did I know that not everyone shared my enthusiasm. The Outrage I woke up the following morning and decided to browse social media (when is this ever a good idea?). My feed was filled with people sharing their outrage at a particular scene of the Olympics’ opening ceremony. A still picture of the ceremony was being shared alongside a picture of Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” painting which admittedly showed a slight resemblance to the original. According to the outraged folk (including some morally...
Read more

Leap of Faith

-
Image
I recently did the Lake Eland Extreme Zip-line with some of my friends from Pietermaritzburg. The zip-line is 1 100 meters long and reaches max speeds of up to 160km's per hour. All that is keeping you from falling hundreds of meters to an inevitable death is 2 cables and a harness that my hysterical brain was telling me would not have been out of place as a car's seat-belt. We arrived early and waited for half an hour as we contemplated our life choices up to this point. Eventually we were all kitted up and ready to go. While I wouldn't say that I have Acrophobia - an extreme fear of heights - as I looked out over the gorge that we would be flying through, breaking the national speed-limit in the process, it is fair to say that my stomach started churning and my legs turned to jelly. It was at this point that I'm sure many of us were trying to think of any reasonable excuse that would get us out of this jump without seeming like a coward. One of the thin...
Read more