Responsibility part2
December 4th 2006 11:29
I apologise for not finishing this earlier. Work, a buck's night, younger brother returning from overseas, and even me accidently closing a window have kept me from finishing this on time.
This time, for sure!
I said in my last post that we have gifts and duties. If we have such things, then we also have a Giver and to this Giver, we are responsible. In the last post I also essentially outlined what I called the beginning of responsibility, and defined the end of it as the things that we ought to not do. And I wasn't perfectly correct in doing so. Because so much of what I said began with me, it ends with other people. To say that the end of responsibility is simply what I don't do is an injustice. And we can't have that.
I admit right now, I do tend to be abit of a loner. I am fairly introverted (granted, having a sense of humour and being able to use it well doesn't mean you are an extrovert, it simply means you are funny) and I like to spend time on my own, away from people. So all the internal stuff, I am quite good at. That being said though, there is still plenty of work to be done. Karl Barth once said that it is impossible to look at man and not see God. This is one of my favourite quotes. If, like I said, the beginning of responsible action is sorting myself out, the end of it is directly down to what I am like with people.
It is pointless for me to go through whatever trials, develop whatever strengths, do whatever things unless I am being a blessing to people. It doesn't matter how amazing that you or I might be, unless we are bringing it out to people, it is wasted. The parable of the three servants is brilliant here. Two of them got active, went out and used the gifts they had been given by their master in order to grow. One simply buried his and this resulted in nothing. Our relation to people means more than we think it does. I've listed some of the people that have been pillars of strength to me. What I cannot list, are the people that I have blessed. We can never understand is how many of them there are, nor what it has been worth.
I had a conversation with a friend of mine, regarding what we could do in our lives to improve the world for those that are coming after us. She told me that I had some great thoughts but that they were maybe best saved for a time when people would be ready for them. My thought? We are here, this is now.
JZ
This time, for sure!
I said in my last post that we have gifts and duties. If we have such things, then we also have a Giver and to this Giver, we are responsible. In the last post I also essentially outlined what I called the beginning of responsibility, and defined the end of it as the things that we ought to not do. And I wasn't perfectly correct in doing so. Because so much of what I said began with me, it ends with other people. To say that the end of responsibility is simply what I don't do is an injustice. And we can't have that.
I admit right now, I do tend to be abit of a loner. I am fairly introverted (granted, having a sense of humour and being able to use it well doesn't mean you are an extrovert, it simply means you are funny) and I like to spend time on my own, away from people. So all the internal stuff, I am quite good at. That being said though, there is still plenty of work to be done. Karl Barth once said that it is impossible to look at man and not see God. This is one of my favourite quotes. If, like I said, the beginning of responsible action is sorting myself out, the end of it is directly down to what I am like with people.
It is pointless for me to go through whatever trials, develop whatever strengths, do whatever things unless I am being a blessing to people. It doesn't matter how amazing that you or I might be, unless we are bringing it out to people, it is wasted. The parable of the three servants is brilliant here. Two of them got active, went out and used the gifts they had been given by their master in order to grow. One simply buried his and this resulted in nothing. Our relation to people means more than we think it does. I've listed some of the people that have been pillars of strength to me. What I cannot list, are the people that I have blessed. We can never understand is how many of them there are, nor what it has been worth.
I had a conversation with a friend of mine, regarding what we could do in our lives to improve the world for those that are coming after us. She told me that I had some great thoughts but that they were maybe best saved for a time when people would be ready for them. My thought? We are here, this is now.
JZ
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