Shirked Duties Bring Loss
The Lord commands each of us to embrace our responsibility (Gal 6:5, EVD). We are to live as responsible individuals who understand the meaning of life (Eph 5:15, Phillips) and are willing to fulfill our duties (1 Thess 4:11, LOP). There are different degrees of revelation and responsibility (Lk 10:12, Worrell note) that are determined by what abilities and opportunities we have had (Lk 12:42, Worrell note). God takes the fulfillment of our duties very seriously. For example, Onan was willing to accept the enjoyment of a sexual relationship while failing to accept its responsibilities. The result was God judged him by taking his life (Gen 38:9, BSB note).
Many people do not like having duties. It is stressful. How we exercise our responsibility can have a profound effect on others. It is so much easier to give the obligations to another. If we can’t do that, however, we are often relieved to accept beliefs that deny that we are duty-bound or that it is okay to exercise responsibility badly. Actions that would previously have been viewed as sin now become emotional distress or disease or genetic programming. It is no longer our fault. We are not responsible because we were born that way or because our parents shaped us that way – or whatever the excuse is.
Yet, if we would have a relationship with God, we must start by embracing our failures and obligations. To be great or even to do well, we have to accept responsibility for how we use our opportunities and for the choices we make. This may not be fashionable in an environment where entitlement, privileges, and rights are emphasized over achievement, responsibility, and duties. Who says, though, that the Lord wants us to be fashionable and politically correct in our thinking? He doesn’t (Rom 12:2, GW). We need to dare to be uncool in the eyes of the sinful world.
Avoid the wrong longings and the wrong way of pursuing the right longing.