Passion

I am big proponent of personal responsibility. I try to take responsibly for my own choices and try to teach my kids the same. It amazes me that at a very young age how quickly they tell me things like “That’s not my fault!” or “That’s your fault, Dad!” It seems that most things in our house are dad’s fault and very few are my kid’s (insert eye roll emoji here).
But as important as it is, especially for Jesus follower’s, to take responsibility for our choices, there is an awful lot of things in our life that happen to us, too. We saw that pretty clearly recently with how those in authority made choices during this pandemic. There were so many things that we were mandated or told to do during that time without much of a voice on our part.
But it’s also true on a day to day basis, too. Since each one of us is given the free choice to do whatever we want to do, there are dozens, hundreds, even thousands of people in our world that make choices that impact us. And while my responsibility is to own what I chose to do in response to those influences, that’s a lot of outside impact.
And that same reality was true for Jesus as well. In fact, as much and as great as what Jesus did on earth was, what was done to him was just as important, right? Granted, we have to remember he still had personal choice and responsibility throughout all that was done to him, and he ultimately chose to die on the cross, these things were still done to him. And he chose to submit to it. He chose to accept what was happening (when the time was right) and gave himself as a sacrifice for our sin. He certainly didn’t have to. He could have fought it, calling down an army of angels to rescue him and bring him back to the safety of heaven.
Hopefully none of us will ever face the same horrific experience that Jesus did, but each one of us has those influences of people on our life. Things that are done to us that we have no control over. Choices of others that anger or frustrate or annoy us because of how they’ve hurt us.
Jesus told us, “…I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (John 21.18, ESV)
Jesus tells us to expect it and his example showed us to accept it and seek to honor and love God through these things. I pray that we can do that well. God bless.