Am I Responsible FOR You or TO You?
Pondering this question in light of this photo gives me clarity.
I have wrestled with this question off and on for years? I think I have finally come to a reasonable conclusion or perhaps some conclusions. The answer is sometimes I am responsible only TO you, sometimes FOR you, and sometimes both.
In certain stages and for certain people, I am responsible FOR them. This little one, Adelaide by name, is totally dependent on her parents and somewhat dependent on us as grandparents and others who may temporarily share in her care. She is not yet responsible FOR herself or To anyone else. She’s too “wittle” for that. So, when I have opportunity to care for her, I am responsible FOR her safety, physical needs, and for her emotional needs as I hold her and kindly care for her.
As she grows and learns life skills, she will become responsible FOR her own decisions. In the transition between now and then, those of us who know and love her and her brother, move further away from being responsible FOR her but will always be responsible TO her. We will always be awesomely responsible TO live before her a life that demonstrates love and truth, care and compassion, self-discipline and faith in God. We will be among the examples she’ll look to in order to learn how to do life as becoming responsible to God for her decisions.
There will be a day when she becomes totally responsible FOR herself and will have to deal with the mixture of the good, the bad, and the ugly she has seen in this life. Prayerfully, she see lots of the “good”and makes wise choices.
I am responsible TO you as my fellow human earthling in that I owe you the best life I can live and the greatest love I can give. I owe you an example of a life lived by faith in God and His Son Jesus Christ and empowered by God’s Holy Spirit. Why? Because just as I, you need to know what life means and why we are here. We are here to know and love God, to live a life of love for God, for others, and even for our own self. I owe you truth spoken and lived in love. Ephesians 5:1-2
Just as I, Adelaide, and others in my family and yours, we will each have to do the best with what we received in life. The good examples, the bad ones, hurt we experience, and the joys we’ve known will come together to make up the tapestry of life.
Ultimately, we will each stand before God and give an account for the things done while we are here on planet earth. Because of Jesus and His mercy, as well as, the grace of God and the presence of His Holy Spirit, we can face eternity and judgment without fear – not because we lived a good enough life to earn mercy and grace, but because in God’s great love for us, He made a way through Jesus for us to be prepared for eternity and heaven. And aren’t we glad!
Hebrews 9:27-28
John 10: 27-30
John 14:1-6