Play on Words

I just learned a new word! Or at least a new way of looking at an old word. Responsibility. Broken down, you could say it is response ability. The ability to respond. As Christians, it is our responsibility to respond to God’s directions to us. Our response ability depends on how obedient we are to what He tells us or what we know would be His will.

As parents, we love to have our children respond when we call. It is the mark of a responsible child. Further, it is even better when they are obedient to what they are told. Jesus gives an example of this in Matthew 21:28, when He says that a father told his two sons to go work in his vineyard. The first son refused to go, but later thought better of it and went. The second son agreed to go, but he did not go. Jesus asks, “Which of the two did the will of his father?” Of course, the right answer was the first son.

Apparently, the first son was honest enough to say no, but he evidently had a repentant heart and did go to work. The second son, while seeming to respond respectfully, really only lied and was disobedient as well. There is nothing so disappointing and disillusioning as to expect and depend on someone to follow through on what was promised, only to find it didn’t happen. That is a mark of irresponsibility.

There used to be a saying in my father’s lifetime, and one that I remember him abiding by, that a man’s word is his bond. Usually a handshake was given as a seal to that bond. My husband remembers that about his dad, too, and it penetrated deeply into Howard’s conscience. Often something will come up where it is inconvenient or near impossible to fulfill something he has said he will do. “But I gave my word,” he says, and either accomplishes it or calls to explain why he could not. This has been an example to our sons, as well.

Jesus’ story was applied to the religious establishment of that day. John was sent to them “in the way of righteousness” to usher in the Savior, but they did not believe him. Then when the humble people believed, and the religious leaders saw it, they did not repent and accept the Truth, preferring their own traditions. Their “response ability” was distorted. If anyone should have recognized Jesus as the Messiah, it should have been those schooled in the scriptures. It was their responsibility. But they responded wrongly. What is our “response ability” to the responsibility He has given us?