Friday, October 5, 2012 -- Taking Responsibility -- The Superior Way

How does a follower of Jesus take responsibility for daily living?

When we surrender our lives to Jesus we exchange being led by our own feelings, emotions and will to submitting ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit of God. Jesus has told us that the Holy Spirit will live with us and will be in us. We learn the ways of the Lord by reading and obeying God's word as written in the Bible.  We allow ourselves to be led and counseled by the Holy Spirit in understanding the ways of God.  This is another step forward in taking responsibility for change in our lives.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1:22 NLT)

As we surrender our old ways for the superior ways of God we will find that life becomes more manageable.  We will learn to make better choices and to take responsibility for our actions, rejoicing when we succeed and not losing heart when we fail.  Daily we allow our minds to be renewed to those things that are good and pleasing in our lives.  As we submit to God we will find that the power of the evil one over us is broken and we can move on to know the will of God for our lives. 

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2 NIV)

To know the will of God for our lives requires spending time with Him.  In a misguided attempt to follow God, the apostle Paul violently persecuted God’s church and did his best to destroy it. Then, after meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul discovered what God actually ordained for his life.  Paul turned from his old life and turned to God and God's revealed plan for him.  Paul's life changed forever.  He spent three years searching the scriptures to find the truth, and was taught by the Lord Himself. Years later, in a letter to one of the churches he founded, Paul reports:

  “I was far ahead of my fellow Jews in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors.  But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him to reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles.”  (Galatians 1:14-15 NLT) 

Paul is an example of how we can seek God’s word for our lives and also take responsibility for our past actions.  When we realize what we have done in the past is not in line with the word of God, then we alone are responsible to find out what God's way is, and change our behaviour to match it.

No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.  And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. (1 Corinthians 2:11-12 NLT)