Responsibility Is A Constant

I’m about to shake tables;

Many leaders have neglected responsibility because they are in service!

Allow me give some examples; Moses had sons. (Did you even know?) It wasn’t Joshua. It was a lad called Gershom. And another called Eliezer!

Not much is said about them in the bible! Except that they were born. Perhaps Moses’ example doesn’t fully express today’s theme!

Look at Eli in 1 Samuel 2:13-36. His sons are mentioned to be evil! This is the man who anointed Samuel! How could this happen?

In 1 Samuel 8:1-3, we see Samuel’s very own sons become corrupt! The unfortunate bit repeated itself! It’s such a pity!

In the Bible we see King Solomon writing down what His father David had taught him while he had been young in the verse below;

Proverbs 1:8 Pay close attention, friend, to what your father tells you; never forget what you learned at your mother’s knee.

This gives us a glimpse that King David had some time to father his son. It’s not mentioned anywhere that the earlier examples had some time with their fathers!

Could it be that their responsibilities as Priests unto God… as Prophets of God… as Men of God, never permitted them to have time for their sons?!

But David was King as well! But he was able to pass on some wisdom unto Solomon. He nurtured him in a way enough that planted a seed in him to ask for wisdom to rule Israel when the right time came!

Today we have pastors. We have Church mechanics who continually sacrifice their time to serve others and God, but let it not befall us; teaching other people’s sons and daughters while leaving ours to nought!

Service shouldn’t exempt you from your responsibilities!

Are you a father? Are you a mother?

Yes we know you are serving the Lord. But when the serving is done, remember that child needs clothing. Remember that child needs to be fed; Both spiritually and physically!

I’m not saying you are not doing a good job. I’m just saying ‘You can do more!’ Don’t let your children be raised by house-helps! They are not the tree from which the seed (your children) came from!

What I’m trying to stress here is; Let’s make it more intentional when it comes to time with your children! Put the phones away. Put work away. Pour your whole selves into them.

Where I’m I coming from you may ask. I’m coming from revelation. Let me give you my side of the story.

I serve at my church. But I attend school all week coming back in the evening most days. That means I haven’t been contributing to the progress around home in form of House work, etc.

All I have been doing is take, take, take! Yet I need to give, give, give! On weekends, it’s my turn to do something around home, but I’ve found myself always dodging this work even on Sundays… Claiming that I have to go to church, early!

What has happened is; my guardians start looking at my going to church as a means of dodging helping around and yet it could not be my full intention. Until God came clearly and said;

“Service doesn’t exempt you from your responsibilities as a son and a child at he.”

In other words, He meant to say,

“I don’t care whether you have to pray early or not. I don’t care whether they want you serving as early as 6a.m. If things don’t go well at home, you won’t go well at church!”

If I don’t help around home, I’d still be seen as the child who dodges work by going to church. And that thought alone can torment me or kill my mood while at church! Remember People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care; Yes, even your family!

What about you?

What are you being convicted about! Are you the father that has abandoned his kids because you have to pastor some few people. Are you the single mother who works full time that you have no minute for your son?

Are you the child who is in choir who thinks not adding value to those siblings at home is not as great as singing for God? Think again! Responsibility will always be a constant.

Yes to God, you have responsibility of service. But at home, you have responsibility of family. We don’t care how good you look like behind that pulpit. What would it profit you to minister and gain the saints and lose your own family’s souls?

Balance the boat. Deliver on both ends. Be intentional to spend time with family, and when their time is done, and God needs to borrow you, move!

The problem comes when you think all these will magically somehow sort itself, all by itself on its own.

Even if you are a banker who works 9 hours. Yes, you have responsibility to fulfil your duties as a Senior Executive, but you also have responsibility as a husband and father as well.

Whatever it is you have to do, do it! If it’s leaving early and returning early, do it! If it’s getting a leave for their sake; do it! If it’s doing the dishes the night before so that you can be at church as early as 6, do it!

Service should not exempt you from your responsibilities! Jobs should not exempt you from your responsibilities! Weather should not exempt you from your responsibilities! Distance should not exempt you from your responsibilities! Money should not exempt you from your responsibilities! Leadership should not exempt you from your responsibilities!

Enough with the fatherless and motherless generations! Great is the bond of those who’ve been fathered & mothered well! They raise another generation whose bond is stronger!