WHAT IS OUR DUTY? Part 3
Beyond our Normal Selfish Lives

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his lie for my sake and the gospel’s the same shall save it”
(Mark 8:35).

We are currently looking at the Scriptures in the Bible which specifically mention a duty. Do you remember that the word for duty is “opheilo” and means “to owe, to be morally obligated, pay the debt, express human and ethical responsibility, to fall in duty, it’s a must”?

1. BEARING WITH THE FAILINGS OF THE WEAK

Romans 15:1: “We then that are strong ought (it’s our duty) to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.”

It’s easy to pass by those who are weak and struggling as we get on with our own lives with all our visions and projects. But God wants us to take time for the weak and fainthearted—to invite them to our homes, to bear them up, to encourage them, and to hold them up.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 exhorts us to “comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.”

2. THANKING GOD FOR ONE ANOTHER

Paul writes to the Thessalonians believers in 2 Thessalonians 1:3 and 2;13: “We are bound (we have a duty) to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.”

I think this is something we often forget to do, isn’t it? feel guilty as I think how often I forget to do this. If we thanked God more often for specific brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, we’d be reminded more of special things to do for them to encourage and spur them on in the faith. May God save us from getting so taken up with our selfish lives that we forget to thank God for other believers who are part of our lives.

Years and years ago I remember God speaking to me very powerfully. I was walking over the doorstep into my home when I heard God speak strongly to my heart, “Nancy, how can I reveal to you the needs of others if you are always thinking about yourself?” What a powerful question. We need to give God room in our hearts and minds for others. If our minds are totally taken up with thinking about ourselves, how will we have room to think of other people –to thank God for them and bless and encourage them?

Wouldn’t it be great to take on the challenge of thinking of one extra person each day? To thank God for them and to think of something special we could do to encourage them. Either give them a call, send them a card, write them a loving message, or listen closely to the Holy Spirit for some specific thing He would want us to do for them.

I find that I often wake up praying for a believer, maybe someone I haven’t even thought about for a long time. Obviously, they need my prayers and also to contact them.

3. TEACHING OTHERS WHO ARE YOUNGER IN THE FAITH

Hebrews 5:12 (NLT) says: “You have been believers so long now that you ought (opheilo—it is your duty) to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.”

How long are we meant to stay spiritual babies? We would be devastated if we were still spoon feeding our little babies and toddlers when they were four or five years old! And yet many adults still need to be spoon fed when they are adults! They still don’t feed from God’s Word each day for themselves. They wait for Sunday for the pastor to spoon feed it into their mouths.

As babies in Christ we soak up the milk as people teach us (1 Peter 2:2). But we don’t stay on milk. We’ve got to get into the meat and learn how to get daily food for ourselves and learn how to chew on it and digest meaty things. This Scripture doesn’t say it’s a good idea. It says we ought to be doing it.

But we should not only be getting into the meat. We should be teaching those who are younger in the faith than we are. It’s our duty! Of course, as mothers we’ll be teaching our children. You may be homeschooling but are you teaching them the truths and sound doctrine of God’s word?

I am amazed at how many children graduate from homeschooling and yet are not students of God’s word. They don’t even know it. They don’t know the doctrines of their faith. They don’t even know how to use a concordance. They don’t know the teaching of the tabernacle which is the basis of our Christian faith. It is from these types and revelations that the early church understood their salvation! It is from where Jesus spoke to the disciples on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:27). It from the Torah and the prophetical OT books that Paul taught the kingdom of God and the way of salvation each day (Acts 28:23, 30, 31).

What are you teaching your children?

PRAYER:

Dear Father, I want to be a meat eater of Your precious Word. I want to know what you think about all things in life. Please help me to be diligent in studying Your Word and to also teach my children diligently. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am filling my children RICHLY with God’s word. I am teaching them the deep doctrines of the faith.