The New You 110: “Taking Responsibility for My Actions”

Thursday, October 9, 2014
“Taking Responsibility for My Actions”

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Episode Transcript:

Today is October 9, 2014, and you’re listening to The New You, the daily broadcast for people who have been made new by the blood of Christ. Here is today’s Scripture:

The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself (Ezek. 18:20).

We’re talking this month about domestic violence. This is part of The Light Network’s campaign to raise awareness about domestic violence and domestic abuse. This week’s episodes of The New You have centered upon the mindset that many abusers have. We have, of course, spent a lot of time looking at the fact that these abusive actions are rebuked in Scripture.

Abusers are manipulative. They lead their victims to believe that they act the way they do because they are provoked into it. In other words, if she wouldn’t do such and such, then he wouldn’t fly off the handle. They make their victims feel as if the fault lies with them, the victim, instead of the one who is committing the actions, the abuser.

Listen again to the verse that I just read, Ezekiel 18:20.

Two principles come to the front as we consider this verse. First, there is the principle of REAPING, then there is the principle of RESPONSIBILITY.

First, the REAPING. “The soul who sins shall die.” This sentence reminds me of what Paul wrote in Galatians chapter six.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life (Gal. 6:7-8).

You reap what you sow. It’s a law of nature. That’s how God created the world. Here’s the thing: “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). “Sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (James 1:15). It’s no surprise, as we consider the law of sowing and reaping, that “the soul who sins shall die.” What else would we expect?

Second, the RESPONSIBILITY. Since we see that sin leads to death, we understand that we – individually – must take responsibility for our sins. Ezekiel wrote that the father will not bear the guilt of the son, nor shall the son bear the guilt of the father. You can’t piggy-back off of someone else’s righteousness, and you aren’t blamed for someone else’s wickedness. We all must take responsibility for ourselves.

That was exactly what God expected of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, wasn’t it? The serpent deceived Eve and she ate the forbidden fruit. Further, she gave some of that fruit to her husband, Adam, and he also ate it. When God confronted them about their sin, they tried to avoid taking the responsibility. He blamed her and she blamed the serpent, but they were all punished.

Let’s wrap it up: Time doesn’t allow us to develop this point too much, but the Bible makes it abundantly clear that we have control over our actions. Inherent in the command to repent of our sins (found in Luke 13:3, 5; Acts 17:30; etc.) is the idea that we have the choice to stop living in sin and to begin living for the Lord. We can choose to renew our minds (Rom. 12:1) and to live as Christians should live.

I understand that there are instances in which one can be a stumbling block to another person, tempting the other person to sin. In that situation, we are discussing two people who have each sinned. Didn’t both of them make that decision to yield to the temptation? And thus the need once again to take responsibility for our actions.

Sometimes we do the same thing that Adam and Eve tried to do way back in Genesis three. We try to push our actions off on other people. Ultimately, we must remember these two principles that we have discussed today: reaping and responsibility. With that in mind, we understand that our actions determine our eternal destiny, and we will answer for everything that we have done.

Memory Verse: Romans 8:28 is this week’s verse, and it reminds us that things will turn out great for those who trust in God. I’ll say it once, and then ask you to repeat it with me the second time. Here’s Romans 8:28.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28).

The New You 10 Week Challenge for a Better Internet! Let’s work together to make the Internet a better place. Each week, I’ll give you a challenge, and I want to encourage you to take to social media with that challenge, followed by the hashtag #NewYouChallenge.

This week I want us to answer this question: What has changed the most about you after you became a Christian? So head over to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the like and compose a post which says, “Now that I’m a Christian, _____. #NewYouChallenge” This is week 2 of the 10 week challenge for a better Internet!

OUTRO:

Thanks for joining today me on The New You. New episodes of this broadcast are released each weekday, Monday through Friday, from The Light Network. Archives of this program, episode transcripts, and more Christian podcasts are available there, too, at thelightnetwork.tv.

To find out more about The Light Network’s campaign to raise awareness about domestic violence, visit thelightnetwork.tv/stopviolence.

I welcome your questions, comments, or suggestions for the show! My email address is robert@thelightnetwork.tv and my voicemail number is 903-26-LIGHT, that’s 903-265-4448. I’d love to hear from you!

This is The New You, I’m Robert Hatfield, and I hope you have a great day!