Responsible to Grow

“And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:27-33).

Don’t get a dog, if you aren’t willing to clean up dog poop.

 God was willing to clean up after Adam’s sin. He made us in His image and took upon Himself the responsibility for cleaning up His image after sin. When we sign up to follow Jesus, we have to count the cost, knowing beforehand that it requires being willing to give up everything to run the race, fight the fight and complete the mission. Responsibility accompanies everything we own and want to own. If we want to have ownership of the cup of salvation, we have to live responsibly.

You can't lead others in something you know nothing about.

Leadership is doing first for yourself what you are asking others to do. Don’t ask others to follow Jesus if you aren’t following Him first yourself. Don’t ask others to read their Bible if you are unwilling to read your own. Don’t ask others to memorize scripture if you don’t do it yourself. Don’t ask others to repent from sin and avoid it if you are unwilling to avoid such sin yourself (Romans 2). If you don’t know how to love others and put them first you will not be able to teach others to love. If you don’t know how to survive in the wilderness yourself, you won’t be able to teach others. (Moses spent forty years in Midian as a shepherd learning how to survive in the wilderness before helping the Israelites survive in the wilderness for forty years). This also means that learning something makes you qualified to teach others. God wants us to be continually learning so that we will always have new material we can teach others.

The only one thing you can change is yourself, but sometimes that makes all of the difference.

Once we know who we are and what won’t change about us (our identity in Christ among other things), we can grow as we know where we can have flexibility. Growth can’t happen without change and change can’t happen without an anchored, stable base. Growth requires change and change requires stability. The more responsible we are with building up our stable, unchanging base, the more responsible we will be able to position ourselves to change and grow in the areas God is calling us to grow in.