Responsibility

“…the LORD has already told you what is good, and this is what he requires: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8 NLT)

So what defines a responsibility? The dictionary states that it is “a duty resulting from a job or position.” So first, I must figure out what my job or position is to further understand what is expected of me. In the secular sense, I am jobless. I do not work outside the home. But I do work and study and pursue activities for which I am liable. I partner. I parent. I pursue learning and practice writing.

Responsibility is a huge word, and sometimes my responsibilities overwhelm me to the point where I feel stuck. I don’t want to move in any direction. I am paralyzed by the potential for failure. I lack the motivation to actively move toward the expected outcome of what I believe is required of me to fulfill my duties.

My position has various manifestations based on whether one looks at it from a marital, social, or spiritual status. From a spiritual perspective, I am a child of God. And with this relationship there comes certain responsibilities as well.

Today I was reading about Jonah and the big job that God brought to his attention. It was interesting to note that Jonah’s decision to go the opposite direction and hop a boat to get away from Nineveh was an indication that he was actually moving “away from the presence of the Lord.”

As I was reading about Jonah, I started to ask myself this question: Is there any place that God has asked me to go that I am resisting? Not really. Well, maybe a couple places, which were actually related to my responsibilities. But when I thought further, I realized the question could be asked a different way: Do I resist God’s presence? And I had to admit that I do resist him at times. This admission led to the thought how the presence of God might be related to my various realms of responsibility. He does not ask me to care for or to be obligated to someone or something without his trustworthy presence strengthening me and giving me the grace to pursue his plans and to extend the same grace to others.

Where there is responsibility, there is the presence of God.